Discovered in 1980, and named for Helene of Troy, Cassini took this image of Saturn’s tiny Ice Queen two days ago:

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Here’s the NASA blurb to go along with its image of this exquisite, minuscule moonlet – and don’t forget to check out the enlargement:

Cassini Captures Ice Queen Helene

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its second-closest encounter with Saturn’s icy moon Helene on June 18, 2011, beaming down raw images of the small moon. At closest approach, Cassini flew within 4,330 miles (6,968 kilometers) of Helene’s surface. It was the second closest approach to Helene of the entire mission.

Here are a few more NASA images of Helene.  It’s hard to believe little Helene wasn’t molded from modeling clay in a studio, crammed full of an astonishing variety of features for its size, then painted to perfection:

NASA/Cassini 013111

NASA/Cassini 030311

NASA/Cassini 030311 Helene shown against Saturn