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The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets only tens of meters across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. There are 146 moons with confirmed orbits, the most of any planet in the solar system.
- Titan (moon)
Discovered in 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan...
- Hyperion (moon)
Hyperion ⫽ h aɪ ˈ p ɪər i ə n ⫽, also known as Saturn VII,...
- Pan (moon)
Pan is the innermost named moon of Saturn. [4] It is a...
- Titan (moon)
The planet Saturn has 146 named moons, and another 29 which are still being studied. [1] Many of the moons are very small: 33 are less than 10 km (6 mi) in diameter and thirteen moons are less than 50 km (31 mi). [2] Many of the moons are named after Titans, Giants, or minor Greek or Roman gods.
Discovered in 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, Titan was the first known moon of Saturn, and the sixth known planetary satellite (after Earth's moon and the four Galilean moons of Jupiter). Titan orbits Saturn at 20 Saturn radii, or 1,200,000 km above Saturn's apparent surface.
Hyperion ⫽ h aɪ ˈ p ɪər i ə n ⫽, also known as Saturn VII, is the eighth-largest moon of Saturn. It distinguished by its highly irregular shape, chaotic rotation, low density, and its unusual sponge-like appearance. It was the first non-rounded moon to be discovered.
Some of the moons of Saturn, including Pandora and Prometheus, act as shepherd moons to confine the rings and prevent them from spreading out. Pan and Atlas cause weak, linear density waves in Saturn's rings that have yielded more reliable calculations of their masses.
Pan is the innermost named moon of Saturn. [4] It is a small, ravioli [5] -shaped moon approximately 35 kilometres across and 23 km wide that orbits within the Encke Gap in Saturn's A Ring. Pan is a ring shepherd and is responsible for keeping the Encke Gap free of ring particles.
Learn about the 146 moons of Saturn, from Titan to tiny oddballs, and their features, discoveries, and missions. See the names, numbers, and years of discovery of each moon, as well as the sources and references.
