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Saturn's satellite system is very lopsided: one moon, Titan, comprises more than 96% of the mass in orbit around the planet. The six other planemo ( ellipsoidal ) moons constitute roughly 4% of the mass, and the remaining small moons, together with the rings, comprise only 0.04%.
Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture, who was the father of the god Jupiter.Its astronomical symbol has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri, where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa-rho ligature with a horizontal stroke, as an abbreviation for Κρονος (), the Greek name for the planet (). [35]
Mimas, also designated Saturn I, is the seventh-largest natural satellite of Saturn.With a mean diameter of 396.4 kilometres or 246.3 miles, Mimas is the smallest astronomical body known to be roughly rounded in shape due to its own gravity.
Its eight regular moons are grouped into the planet-sized Galilean moons and the far smaller Amalthea group. They were named after lovers of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Jupiter. Among them is Ganymede, the largest and most massive moon in the Solar System. Its 87 known irregular moons are organized into two categories: prograde and retrograde.
The new discovery increases the moons orbiting the "jewel of our solar system" to 82, surpassing Jupiter
Frequently described as a planet-like moon, Titan is 50% larger in diameter than Earth's Moon and 80% more massive. It is the second-largest moon in the Solar System after Jupiter's Ganymede and is larger than Mercury; yet Titan is only 40% as massive as Mercury, because Mercury is mainly iron and rock while much of Titan is ice, which is less ...
Hyperion / h aɪ ˈ p ɪər i ə n /, also known as Saturn VII, is the eighth-largest moon of Saturn. It is 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.
An exception is Earth's moon, which orbits in to the planet's equatorial plane. [30] When orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other is known as orbital resonance. Orbital resonances are present in several satellite systems: 2:4 Tethys–Mimas (Saturn's moons) 1:2 Dione–Enceladus (Saturn's moons)