Saturn

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Average Distance From Sun:

1,429,400,000 Km

Diameter: Equatorial

120,536 km

Diameter: Polar

108,728 km

Oblateness:

0.097 96

Mass:

95.162 x Earths, 5.6846×10²⁶ kg

Gravity:

1.16 x Earth Standard 8.96 m/s²

Density:

0.6873 g/cm³ that of Water

Escape velocity

35.49 km/s

Atmosphere:

Hydrogen, Ammonia, Methane gases

MOON:

Axial tilt

26.73°

Orbit Inclination

2.484 46°

Saturn Year:

29.458 Earth Years

Saturn Day:

10.233

There are over 60 known moons,

its largest being Titan.
The visible rings begin about 11,000 km from the planet's surface and extend out to about 56,000 km. Made of small chunks of ice and rock (averaging 1 m, they are 275,000 km rim to rim, but only 100 m thick. )
The Voyager probes showed that the rings actually consist of thousands of closely spaced ringlets, looking like the grooves in a record.Like Jupiter, Saturn's visible surface consists of swirling clouds, probably made of frozen ammonia at a temperature of -170 degrees C, although the markings in the clouds are not as prominent as Jupiter's.From Earth, Saturn's rings appear to be divided into three main sections.
Ring A, the outermost, is separated from ring B, the brightest, by the Cassini division (named after its discoverer Cassini), 3,000 km wide; the inner, transparent ring C is also called the Crepe Ring.
Each ringlet of the rings is made of a swarm of particles of ice and rock, a few centimetres to a few metres in diameter. Outside the A ring is the narrow and faint F ring, which the Voyagers showed to be twisted or braided.
The rings of Saturn could be the remains of a shattered moon, or they may always have existed in their present form.
Saturn is without doubt the most easily recognised of the planets due to its network of rings that circle the planet.

A curious theory about Saturn says that because of the planets very low density (below that of water), Saturn would probably float in a large enough ocean. ; )
Saturn is also unique in that its magnetic axis is almost exactly aligned with its rotational axis.
Scientists use the rotation rate of radio emissions from the giant gas planets such as Saturn and Jupiter to determine the rotation rate of the planets themselves because the planets have no solid surfaces and are covered by clouds that make direct visual measurements impossible.

Latest News

Here

This Cassini image


	DIONE

was taken on December 15, 2004 and received on Earth December 15, 2004. The camera was pointing toward DIONE at approximately 81,339 kilometres away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters.
Yes, click this!

for computer-rendered views from the Cassini

Latest from Cassini Spaceprobe

Dec 13th

On 27 October,


	Tethys

at about 10:30 UT, there was a close encounter with Tethys, another of the significant moons of Saturn. Tethys is a ball of solid ice about 1060 kilometres in diameter which orbits Saturn at a distance of 295 000 kilometres. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft passed within 246 000 kilometres of this moon at a speed of 13.8 kilometres per second. At this distance the narrow-angle camera should be able to resolve features down to about 1.4 kilometres in size.
This image was taken on October 27, 2004 at approximately 667,666 km away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters.

Landing Site:


	Landing Site:

Shown here are two images of the expected landing site of Cassini's Huygens probe, which will separate from the Cassini spacecraft on December 24. It will then take 22 days before Huygens begins its descent through Titan's atmosphere landing on January 15.

These images show the


	Infrared Titan

surface of Titan at two different infrared wavelengths. They were captured by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer onboard Cassini as the spacecraft flew by at an altitude of 1200 kilometres (745 miles) - Cassini's closest approach yet to the hazy moon. The image on the left, taken at a wavelength of 2 microns, is the most detailed picture to date of the Titan's surface. It reveals complex landforms with sharp boundaries, which scientists are eager to further study. The image on the right was taken at a wavelength of 1 micron and shows approximately what a digital camera might see.

This image shows Titan in


	Ultraviolet and infrared Titan

ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. It was taken by Cassini's imaging science subsystem on Oct. 26, 2004, and is constructed from four images acquired through different colour filters. Red and green colours represent infrared wavelengths and show areas where atmospheric methane absorbs light. These colours reveal a brighter (redder) northern hemisphere. Blue represents ultraviolet wavelengths and shows the high atmosphere and detached hazes.

Latest Cassini photograph!

Saturn and its rings completely fill the field of view of Cassini's narrow angle camera in this natural colour image taken on March 27, 2004. This is the last single 'eyeful' of Saturn and its rings achievable with the narrow angle camera on approach to the planet. From now until orbit insertion, Saturn and its rings will be larger than the field of view of the narrow angle camera.
Colour variations between atmospheric bands and features in the southern hemisphere of Saturn, as well as subtle Colour differences across the planet's middle B ring, are now more distinct than ever. Colour variations generally imply different compositions. The nature and causes of any compositional differences in both the atmosphere and the rings are major questions to be investigated by Cassini scientists as the mission progresses.

Saturn and its rings completely fill the field of view


	The Cassini Division

The bright blue sliver of light in the northern hemisphere is sunlight passing through the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings and being scattered by the cloud-free upper atmosphere.
Two faint dark spots are visible in the southern hemisphere. These spots are close to the latitude where Cassini saw two storms merging in mid-March. The fate of the storms visible here is unclear. They are getting close and will eventually merge or squeeze past each other. Further analysis of such dynamic systems in Saturn's atmosphere will help scientists understand their origins and complex interactions.
Moons visible in this image are (clockwise from top right): Enceladus (499 kilometres or 310 miles across), Mimas (398 kilometres or 247 miles across), Tethys (1060 kilometres or 659 miles across) and Epimetheus (116 kilometres across). Epimetheus is dim and appears just above the left edge of the rings. Brightness have been exaggerated to aid visibility.
The image is a composite of three exposures, in red, green and blue, taken when the spacecraft was 47.7 million kilometres (29.7 million miles) from the planet. The image scale is 286 kilometres (178 miles) per pixel.

When a comet approaches

within the Roche limit of a planet, the tidal forces overcome the internal forces and disrupt the comet. The broken pieces distribute into a ring shape. Two prominent rings (A and B) and one faint ring (C) can be seen from the Earth.
The Cassini division is the gap between the A and B rings. The much fainter gap in the outer part of the A ring is known as the Encke Division (but this is somewhat of a misnomer since it was very likely never seen by Encke).
The Voyager pictures show four additional faint rings. Saturn's rings, unlike the rings of the other planets, are very bright (albedo 0.2 - 0.6).
Though they look continuous from the Earth, the rings are actually composed of innumerable small particles each in an independent orbit. They range in size from a centimetre or so to several meters. Doppler measurements show that the rings are made of separate particles moving in circular orbits. High albedo means rings are typically made of ice.
Saturn's outermost ring, the F-ring, is a complex structure made up of several smaller rings along which "knots" are visible.

on March 19 2004

the Cassini spacecraft caught two storms in the act of merging into one larger storm.
This is only the second time this phenomenon has been observed on the ringed planet.

To Download: (Animated GIF (382 kB)). Wind-blown clouds and haze high in Saturn's atmosphere are captured in a movie made from images taken by the Cassini narrow angle camera between Feb. 15 and Feb. 19, 2004. The bright areas in these images represent high haze and clouds near the top of Saturn's troposphere. Cassini has three filters designed to sense different heights of clouds and haze in the planet's atmosphere. Any light detected by cameras using the 889-nanometer filter is reflected very high in the atmosphere, before the light is absorbed.

This images taken on March 12, 2004

by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft show clumps seemingly embedded within Saturn's narrow, outermost F ring. The narrow angle camera took the images on Feb. 23, 2004, from a distance of 62.9 million kilometres (39 million miles). The two images taken nearly two hours apart show these clumps as they revolve about the planet. The small dot at centre right in the second image is one of Saturn's small moons, Janus, which is 181 kilometres, (112 miles) across. Like all particles in Saturn's ring system, these clump features orbit the planet in the same direction in which the planet rotates. This direction is clockwise as seen from Cassini's southern vantage point below the ring plane. Two clumps in particular, one of them extended, is visible in the upper part of the F ring in the image on the left, and in the lower part of the ring in the image on the right. Other knot-like irregularities in the ring's brightness are visible in the image on the right.
The core of the F ring is about 50 kilometres (31miles) wide, and from Cassini's current distance, is not fully visible. The imaging team enhanced the contrast of the images and magnified them to aid visibility of the F ring and the clump features. The camera took the images with the green filter, which is centred at 568 nanometers. The image scale is 377 kilometres (234 miles) per pixel.
NASA's two Voyager spacecraft that flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981 were the first to see these clumps. The Voyager data suggest that the clumps change very little and can be tracked as they orbit for 30 days or more. No clump survived from the time of the first Voyager flyby to the Voyager 2 flyby nine months later. Scientists are not certain of the cause of these features. Among the theories proposed are meteoroid bombardments and inter-particle collisions in the F ring.

Full-Resalution:


	Rings

This image taken


	C ring

with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, shows Saturn's outer C ring and it’s extreme variations in brightness, along with the subtle, large-scale wavy variations discovered 24 years ago by the Voyager spacecraft. The notably dark Maxwell gap (near upper right) contains the bright, narrow and eccentric Maxwell ringlet, similar to the narrow Uranian epsilon ring. The gap also contains another very faint ringlet newly discovered by Cassini.

UK scientists


	New ring ( red)

using the Cassini probe have found a new ring and one, possibly two, new objects orbiting Saturn.
The discoveries are in the planet's contorted F-ring region. The ring of new material seems to be associated with Saturn's moon Atlas.
If confirmed, it will be the first UK detection of a moon since an outer moon of Jupiter was found in 1908.
If it is a moon, its diameter is estimated to be 4-5km (two to three miles) and it is located 1,000km (620 miles) from the F-ring, Saturn's outermost ring. This will raise the known number of moons of Saturn to 34.

A small new found object


	S/2004 S 3

, temporarily designated S/2004 S 3, has been seen orbiting Saturn's outer F ring. The tiny object, seen in this movie (centred in a green box), orbits the planet at a distance of approximately 141,000 kilometres (86,420 miles) from the centre of Saturn. It`s nature, moon or clump, is not presently known.

The magnetospheric


	Saturn

Imaging instrument onboard Cassini recently discovered a new radiation belt just above Saturn's cloud tops, up to the inner edge of the D-ring. Before this discovery, it was not anticipated that such a trapped ion population could be sustained inside the rings.
This new radiation belt extends around the planet. It was detected by the emission of fast neutral atoms created as its energetic ions interact with gas clouds in the same region.

Scientists have captured images


	Titan plasma flow

of a radiation belt inside the rings of Saturn and have the clearest picture yet of the planet's giant magnetosphere.
The image of Saturn's magnetosphere was captured by the Ion and Neutral Camera (INCA), part of the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) on NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shortly after Cassini entered the planet's orbit in July 20004. On June 20-21, 2004, as Cassini approached Saturn's orbit, the energetic neutral atom (ENA) emissions captured by INCA revealed that the magnetosphere rotated around the planet once about every 11 hours.
to read more

Scientists


	Oxygen

monitoring the Cassini space probe have spotted a "dazzling outburst of oxygen" at one spot on Saturn's outermost "E ring”.
One possibility for the oxygen burst could be that a small moon-like object may have crashed into something else, obliterating the moonlet and leaving behind a fine mist of ice particles. The particles, in turn, were soon torn into hydrogen molecules and oxygen atoms by ions screaming through Saturn's magnetosphere.
The increase of oxygen, which was about 35 percent more than is usually found in the outermost rings, quickly disappeared over a period of about a month. It i believed that complex processes are regularly "eating" and replenishing the 100-million-year-old rings.

Nearly

five billion years ago, the giant gaseous planets Jupiter and Saturn formed, apparently in radically different ways;
According to scientist at the University of California's Los Alamos National Laboratory who created exhaustive computer models based on experiments in which the element hydrogen was shocked to pressures nearly as great as those found inside the two planets. It seems as if heavy elements are concentrated in Saturn's massive core, while those same elements are mixed throughout Jupiter, with very little or no central core at all.

Methane found on Saturn

plays crucial role in planet formation.
Using an infrared spectrometer on the Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft, Livermore, California researchers have measured the temperature, winds and chemical composition of Saturn, its rings and one of its moons, Phoebe.
The methane measurement shows that carbon is enriched on Saturn by seven times the amount found in the sun and two times the amount found on Jupiter, which is consistent with the rocky core hypothesis of giant planet formation. In this model, Jupiter and Saturn began formation by accreting cores of about 10-12 times the size of Earth’s mass of heavy elements, which, in turn, attracts the surrounding nebular gas in solar proportions.
to read more

Cassini's two close flybys of Enceladus

have revealed that the moon has a significant atmosphere.
Cassini had its first encounter with Enceladus on Feb. 17 at an altitude of 1,167 kilometres, the magnetometer instrument saw a striking signature in the magnetic field. On March 9, Cassini approached to within 500 kilometres of the surface.
The observations showed a bending of the magnetic field, with the magnetospheric plasma being slowed and deflected by the moon. Magnetic field oscillations were also observed. Electrically charged (or ionized water vapour ) molecules are thought to interact with the magnetic field and spiral around the field lines. This interaction creates characteristic oscillations in the magnetic field at frequencies that identify the molecule as water vapour.
The source may be volcanism, geysers, or gases escaping from the surface or the interior.

This infrared colour image of Enceladus


	Enceladus

was obtained by the Cassini visual infrared mapping spectrometer on March 9, 2005, when the Cassini spacecraft was 9,145 kilometres away from Enceladus.
Enceladus shows substantial differences in composition or, more likely, particle size on its surface. Redder areas correspond to larger grain sizes, and appear to be correlated with craters and ridged regions. The surface of Enceladus is nearly pure water ice; no other components have been identified yet.

Images returned from the Cassini space probe


	Mystery

reveal a mystery in Saturn's rings. The unique close-up images show an unexplained clumping of material within the rings, which could help scientists understand how planets form.
"It almost looks like straw. I don't know what this is. I literally don't have a clue"
click here!

to go to the Cassini `latest picture` webpage.

Saturns Rings

for more
(122kb, 2672 x 970)Credit: NASA/JPL


	Mystery

Saturn's Rings
Name	Inner Radius	Outer Radius	width	approximate position	approximate mass (kg)
D-Ring	67,000	74,500	7,500	(ring)
Guerin Division
C-Ring	74,500	92,000	17,500	(ring)	1.1e18
Maxwell Division	87,500	88,000	500	(divide)
B-Ring	92,000	117,500	25,500	(ring)	2.8e19
Cassini Division	115,800	120,600	4,800	(divide)
Huygens Gap	117,680	(n/a)	285-440	(subdiv)
A-Ring	122,200	136,800	14,600	(ring)	6.2e18
Encke Minima	126,430	129,940	3,500	29%-53%
Encke Division	133,410	133,740
Keeler Gap	136,510	136,550
F-Ring	140,210		30-500	(ring)
G-Ring	165,800	173,800	8,000	(ring)	1e7?
E-Ring	180,000	480,000	300,000	(ring)
Notes: * distance is kilometres from Saturn's centre * the "Encke Minima" is an unofficial slang term used by amateur astronomers.

for interactive Saturn moon calculator .

Saturn's Known Satellites

Moon # Radius
(km) Mass
(kg) Distance
(km) Discoverer Date

Pan XVIII 9.655 ? 133,583 M. Showalter 1990

S/2005 S1 Daphnis 3.5 136,505 Cassini 2005

Atlas XV 20x15 ? 137,640 R. Terrile 1980

Prometheus XVI 72.5x42.5x32.5 2.7e+17 139,350 S. Collins 1980

Pandora XVII 57x42x31 2.2e+17 141,700 S. Collins 1980

Epimetheus XI 72x54x49 5.6e+17 151,422
R. Walker
1966

Janus X 98x96x75 2.01e+18 151,472 A. Dollfus 1966

Mimas I 196 3.80e+19 185,520 W. Herschel 1789

S/2004 S1
Methode XXXII 1.5 194,000 cassini 2004

S/2004 S2
Pallene XXXIII 2 211,000 cassini 2004

Enceladus II 250 8.40e+19 238,020 W. Herschel 1789

Tethys III 530 7.55e+20 294,660 G. Cassini 1684

Telesto XIII 17x14x13 ? 294,660 B. Smith 1980

Calypso XIV 17x11x11 ? 294,660 B. Smith 1980

Dione IV 560 1.05e+21 377,400 G. Cassini 1684

S/2004 S5
Polydeuces XXXIV 2.5 377,390 2004

Helene (co-orbital with Dione) XII 18x16x15 ? 377,400 Laques-Lecacheux 1980 1980 S6

Rhea V 765 2.49e+21 527,040 G. Cassini 1672

Titan VI 2,575 1.35e+23 1,221,850 C. Huygens 1655

Hyperion VII 205x130x110 1.77e+19 1,481,000 W. Bond 1848

Iapetus VIII 730 1.88e+21 3,561,300 G. Cassini 1671

Phoebe IX 110 4.0e+18 12,952,000
W. Pickering
1898

S/2000 S5 Kiviuq XXIV
7 ? 11,365,000 B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S6 Ijiraq XXII
5 ? 11,440,000 J.J. Kavelaars, B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S2 Paaliaq XX
9.5 ? 15,199,000 B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S8 Skathi XXVII
3.2 ? 15,645,000 J.J. Kavelaars, B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S11 Albiorix XXVI
13 ? 16,392,000 M. Holman, T.B. Spahr 2000

S/2000 S10 Erriapo XXVIII
4.3 ? 17,611,000 J.J. Kavelaars, B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S3 Siarnaq XXIX
16 ? 18,160,000 B. Gladman, J.J. Kavelaars 2000

S/2000 S4 Tarvos XXI
6.5 ? 18,239,000 J.J. Kavelaars, B. Gladman 2000

S/2000 S9 Mundilfari XXV
2.8 ? 18,709,000 B. Gladman, J.J. Kavelaars 2000

S/2000 S12 Suttungr XXIII
2.8 ? 19.470,000 B. Gladman, J.J. Kavelaars 2000

S/2000 S7 Thrymr XXX
2.8 ? 20,470,000 B. Gladman, J.J. Kavelaars 2000

S/2000 S1 Ymir XIX
8 ? 23,096,000 B. Gladman 2000

S/2003 S1 Narvi XXXI
4 ? 18,719,000 S. Sheppard 2003

S/2006 S1 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S2 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S3 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S4 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S5 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S6 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S7 David Jewitt 2006

S/2006 S8 David Jewitt 2006

Possible New Satellites of Saturn

26th June 2006
8 more moons

The Minor Planet Centre has listed nine (8 listed) more outer moons for Saturn.
They are all in retrograde orbits, with orbital periods of two to three years. S/2006 S1 to S/2006 S8 moons, were discovered with the eight meter Subaru telescope in Hawaii, by David Jewitt and company.
This brings the total count to 56 Saturnian moons

to read more (PDF)

May 4th 2005


	moon S2004 S11

Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Saturn, bringing its number of natural satellites to 46.
The moons are small, irregular bodies - probably only about 3-7km in size (assuming they have a surface albedo of 4%) - that are far from Saturn and take about two years to complete one orbit.
All but one circles Saturn in the opposite direction to its larger moons (a characteristic of captured bodies).
Jupiter is the planet with the most moons, 63 at the last count; Saturn now has 46. Uranus has 27 and Neptune 13.
The latest ones were found last year using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. Confirmation observations were made using the Gemini North telescope, also situated in Hawaii.
The newly-found satellites were probably formed in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and scattered out of it by the tug of Jupiter's gravity.


	New moons

Saturn Satellite Extra Data

Name		a	i	e	Peri	Node	M	Period	mag
		(km)	(deg)	(deg)	(deg)	(deg)		(days)
----
	Regular Satellites
	Start of Inner most Ring (D)	66000
XVIII	Pan S/1981 S3	133600	0.000	0.000	0.0	0.0	122.0	0.575	19
	S/2005 S1	136505
XV	Atlas S/1980 S28	137700	0.000	0.000	0.0	0.0	186.5	0.602	18.5
XVI	Prometheus S/1980 S27	139400	0.000	0.002	212.8	0.0	335.7	0.613	15.5
XVII	Pandora S/1980 S26	141700	0.000	0.004	68.2	0.0	13.9	0.629	16
XI	Epimetheus S/1980 S3 (co-orbital with Janus)	151422	0.335	0.021	100.9	335.0	56.0	0.69	15
X	Janus S/1980 S1	151472	0.165	0.007	27.9	303.8	236.5	0.70	14
I	Mimas	185600	1.566	0.021	322.9	177.5	100.2	0.94	12.5
II	Enceladus	238100	0.010	0.000	334.7	137.1	162.0	1.37	11.5
XIII	Telesto S/1980 S13	294700	1.158	0.001	80.7	126.1	7.9	1.89	18
III	Tethys	294700	0.168	0.000	149.2	149.2	28.8	1.89	10
XIV	Calypso S/1980 S25	294700	1.473	0.001	43.6	09.2	201.8	1.89	18.5
IV	Dione	377400	0.002	0.000	174.0	57.7	109.2	2.74	10
	Polydeuces		0.1705	0.0182				2.74
XII	Helene S/1980 S6 (co-orbital with Dione )	377400	0.212	0.000	80.4	10.2	10.0	2.74	18
	End of Outer most Ring (E)	480000
V	Rhea	527100	0.327	0.001	205.9	1.095	238.7	4.518	9
VI	Titan	1221900	1.634	0.029	172.7	44.05	192.1	15.95	8
VII	Hyperion	1464100	0.568	0.018	262.1	273.9	52.96	21.28	14
VIII	Iapetus	3560800	7.570	0.028	275.9	75.58	350.3	79.33	10.5
	Irregular Groups
	S/2000 S5 Kiviuq	11365000	46.16	0.334	82.87	359.5	221.2	449.2	22.0
	S/2000 S6 Ijiraq	11440000	46.74	0.322	85.46	136.4	64.55	451.5	22.6
IX	Phoebe	12944300	174.8	0.164	337.5	237.1	174.6	548.2	16
	S/2000 S2 Paaliaq	15199000	45.13	0.364	238.3	327.2	352.0	686.9	21.3
	S/2000 S8 Skathi	15647000	152.7	0.270	201.8	284.0	144.6	728.9	23.6
	S/2000 S11 Albiorix	16404000	33.98	0.478	55.48	102.3	58.72	783.5	20.5
	S/2000 S10 Erriapo	17616000	34.45	0.474	282.1	150.8	323.2	871.9	23.0
	S/2000 S3 Siarnaq	18160000	45.56	0.295	65.44	47.09	224.6	893.1	20.1
	S/2000 S4 Tarvos	18247000	33.51	0.536	273.5	102.9	283.6	925.6	22.1
	S/2000 S9 Mundilfari	18709000	167.5	0.208	310.1	83.51	108.3	951.4	23.8
	S/2003 S1 Narvi	18719000	134.6	0.352	178.5	182.3	203.7	956.2	24.0
	S/2000 S12 Suttungr	19463000	175.8	0.114	35.73	228.4	340.1	1016.3	23.9
	S/2000 S7 Thrymr	20382000	175.8	0.470	63.45	223.9	18.03	1086.9	23.9
	S/2000 S1 Ymir	23096000	173.1	0.333	22.58	194.0	244.1	1312.4	21.7
	S/2004 S07	19800000	165.1	0.580	00.00	000.0	000.0	1103	24.5
	S/2004 S08	22200000	168.0	0.213	00.00	000.0	000.0	1355	24.6

New Satellites announced in 2005 and yet to be named

S/2004 S07 19800000   165.1   0.580   00.00   000.0   000.0    1103    24.5          6    2004
S/2004 S08 22200000   168.0   0.213   00.00   000.0   000.0    1355    24.6          6    2004 
S/2004 S09 19800000   157.6   0.235   00.00   000.0   000.0    1077    24.7          5    2004 
S/2004 S10 19350000   167.0   0.241   00.00   000.0   000.0    1026    24.4          6    2004 
S/2004 S11 16950000   41.0    0.336   00.00   000.0   000.0    822     24.1          6    2004 
S/2004 S12 19650000   164.0   0.401   00.00   000.0   000.0    1048    24.8          5    2004 
S/2004 S13 18450000   167.4   0.273   00.00   000.0   000.0    906     24.5          6    2004 
S/2004 S14 19950000   162.7   0.292   00.00   000.0   000.0    1081    24.4          6    2004 
S/2004 S15 18750000   156.9   0.180   00.00   000.0   000.0    1008    24.2          6    2004 
S/2004 S16 22200000   163.0   0.135   00.00   000.0   000.0    1271    25.0          4    2004 
S/2004 S17 18600000   166.6   0.259   00.00   000.0   000.0    986     25.2          4    2004 
S/2004 S18 19650000   147.4   0.795   00.00   000.0   000.0    1052    23.8          7    2004

New Satellites announced in 2006 and yet to be named

S/2004 S19 18217125   153.3   0.360   00.00   000.0   000.0    912     23.5          8    2004 
S/2006 S1  18981135   154.2   0.130   00.00   000.0   000.0    970     24.6          6    2006 
S/2006 S2  22350000   148.4   0.341   00.00   000.0   000.0    1245    23.9          7    2006 
S/2006 S3  21132000   150.8   0.471   00.00   000.0   000.0    1142    24.6          6    2006 
S/2006 S4  18105000   172.7   0.374   00.00   000.0   000.0    905     24.4          6    2006 
S/2006 S5  23190000   166.5   0.139   00.00   000.0   000.0    1314    24.6          6    2006 
S/2006 S6  18600000   162.9   0.192   00.00   000.0   000.0    942     24.7          6    2006 
S/2006 S7  22290000   166.9   0.368   00.00   000.0   000.0    1237    24.8          6    2006 
S/2006 S8  17610000   155.6   0.418   00.00   000.0   000.0    869     24.5          6    2006

S/2007 S 4

60th Moon of Saturn Discovered
The newfound moon orbits about 1.76 kilometres from Saturn. Affectionately known as Frank to the QMUL scientists that first identified it, the satellite is set to have a more fitting name assigned to it akin to its cousins Methone and Pallene - who are named after the Greek Alkyonides. This is a decision for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) the body responsible for officially naming planetary objects. So far only 48 of the 60 moons discovered have been given names. Frank has received the preliminary designation S/2007 S 4 by the IAU.

a - The mean semi-major axis.
i - The mean inclination.
e - The mean eccentricity.
Peri - The argument of Pariaphis.
Node - The longitude of the ascending node.
M - The mean anomaly.
Period - The time of one revolution around Jupiter.
mag - The optical magnitude of the object (R-band).

Extra Data

The Voyager 1 flyby

of Saturn took place on 12 November 1980 at 23:46 UTC with the spacecraft closest approach only 184300 kilometres from the center of Saturn. Among the highlights of the encounter were the separate encounter with Titan, discovery of intricate patterns within the ring system, and observation of variations among the many moons of Saturn.

The Voyager 2

closest approach to Saturn was on 26 August 1981 at 03:24 UTC and at a distance of 161000 km from the
centre of Saturn. The trajectory was chosen so that the spacecraft could obtain a gravitational assist from Saturn and continue on to Uranus; the timing was selected to provide better views of several satellites than had been obtained from Voyager 1. Design of science sequences was influenced by Voyager 1 results. However, the scan platform seized temporarily 110 minutes after Saturn closest approach, causing the central computer to disable further commands and resulting in loss of some data.
Control was gained again three days later. A gyroscope calibration error between closest approach and five hours later also caused loss of data.
Scan platform activities ended on 5 September 1981.

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