Methone’s two-tone surface

Bright and less bright regions.

Published 2026-10-23

Methone has two sharply defined albedo regions, about 0.61 and 0.70.^[1]

Leading side

The darker region is centred on its leading side.^[1]

Sisters

Methone and Pallene were the first moons discovered in Cassini images.^[2] Methone is named after one of the Alkyonides.^[4]

Cassini visits

Cassini made two visits, with closest approach on 20 May 2012 at about 1,900 km.^[1]

Numbered citations link to the sources list on the Methone overview page.