Which small Saturn moon occupies Dione's trailing Lagrange point L5?

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Which small Saturn moon occupies Dione's trailing Lagrange point L5? Polydeuces does.

Polydeuces is a tiny co-orbital moon of Saturn that shares Dione's orbit. It travels roughly 60 degrees behind Dione, where Saturn's and Dione's gravity create the trailing L5 Lagrange region. Dione's other Trojan companion, Helene, occupies the leading L4 point instead.

The Cassini Imaging Science Team discovered Polydeuces in images taken on October 21, 2004, and the moon received its official name in 2005. Its name is another form of Polydeukes, the Greek mythological name for Pollux, twin of Castor.

Polydeuces is only about 3 kilometers across and does not remain fixed exactly 60 degrees behind Dione. Gravitational perturbations make it librate around L5 in a looping “tadpole” orbit. Among Saturn's four known Trojan moons, it shows the largest displacement from its nominal Lagrange point. Telesto and Calypso are similar Trojan moons of Tethys, not Dione.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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