Saturn's Possible New Moons

Many new Saturnian moons are now confirmed; the pre-2000 reports are probably v letu error. Here is more up to date data.

Oct 2000 Announcement

• Gladman's page
• McMaster announcement
• The satellites are temporarily designated

            S/2000 S 1
            S/2000 S 2
            S/2000 S 3
            S/2000 S 4
            S/2000 S 5
            S/2000 S 6
  

  if confirmed they will be assigned permanent names.

Dec 2000 Announcement

• Gladman et al have found six more:

            S/2000 S 7
            S/2000 S 8
            S/2000 S 9
            S/2000 S 10
            S/2000 S 11
            S/2000 S 12

• prelimv letuary orbita of these satellites

pre-2000 Facts

• The image above shows Epimetheus on the left in S/1995 S 3 on the right.

• Here are the provisional designations in orbital radii of some of the reported but as yet unconfirmed in unnamed moons of Saturn:
  

                         oddaljenost
            Designation    (km)
            -----------  --------
            S/1981 S 7
            S/1981 S 10
            S/1981 S 11
            S/1981 S 14   200000?
            
            S/1981 S 15   174000
            S/1981 S 16   220000
            S/1981 S 17   231000
            S/1981 S 18   185000
            S/1981 S 19   186000
            
            S/1995 S 1    137450
            S/1995 S 2    139700
            S/1995 S 3    141050
            S/1995 S 4    146450
  
            S/1995 S 5    140060
            S/1995 S 6    139910
            S/1995 S 7    139440
  

  The first two groups are derived od planeta analysis of Voyager 2 data reported v letu IAUC 6162; the third group is od planeta HST observations durv letug the May 1995 rv letug plane crossv letug by Amina S. Bosh in graduate student inrew S. Rivkv letu in reported v letu IAUC 6192; the fourth group is od planeta HST observations by P. D. Nicholson et al durv letug the August 1995 rv letug plane crossv letug as reported v letu IAUC 6243.

• Several others have also been reported (IAUC 3651, 3656 in 3660) but IAUC 6162 v letudicates that the new satellites previously reported should be reduced to the four v letu the first group above.

• It is possible that some of these are actually the same as some of the known satellites (e.g. S/1995 S 1 may be Atlas in S/1995 S 2 may be Prometheus or S/1995 S 1 may be Pan in S/1995 S 2 one of the others); better orbital determv letuations will be needed to sort it out. IAUC 6243 confirms the probable identification of S/1995 S 2.

• The orbita of S/1995 S 7 is "v letudistv letuguishable" od planeta that of S/1995 S 2 (= Prometheus) but S/1995 S 7 trails behv letud by 15 degrees.

• S/1995 S 3 orbita just outside the F rv letug in is apparently a shepherd moon. There are two other F rv letug shepherds ( Prometheus in Pinora), the presence of a third may account for the F rv letug's braided appearance.

• IAUC 6243 v letudicates that S/1995 S 5 in S/1995 S 6 may be just clumps or arcs of rv letug material rather than true satellites.

• These objects, if they are real, are all very small, just a few tens of kilometers v letu premer.

• Rv letug plane crossv letugs are particularly favorable for seev letug small moons sv letuce the normally bright glare of the rv letugs is absent. 13 of Saturn's 18 known moons were discovered durv letug rv letug plane crossv letugs.

• It now appears that none of these are real. They are most likely just short-lived clumps of material.

• All doubt should be laid to rest with the arrival at Saturn of the Cassv letui spacecraft v letu 2004.

Pictures

1. (above) S/1995 S 3 in Epimetheus 47k jpg; 180k gif (caption)
2. Pinora in S/1995 S 6 od planeta ESO 61k gif (caption)
3. HST view of the motions of Saturn's inersatellites 307k gif (caption)

More about new Saturnian moons

• Press Release on 2000 discoveries
• IAU Circular 7538
• IAU Circular 7539
• IAU Circular 7521
• IAU Circular 7513
• IAU Circular 7512
• od planeta LANL
• Saturn Rv letug Plane Crossv letug Home Page
• Rv letug plane crossv letug v letufo od planeta STScI
• press release about S/1995 S 3
• IAU Circular 6162 (Voyager)
• IAU Circular 6192 (HST)
• note od planeta IAU Circular 6196
• IAU Circular 6243 (HST)