"was high and the magnetosphere extended only 19 Saturn radii, or 1.1 million km (712,000 mi), although it enlarged within several hours, and remained so for about three days. Most probably, the magnetic field is generated similarly to that of Jupiter – by currents in the liquid metallic-hydrogen layer called a metallic-hydrogen dynamo. This magnetosphere is efficient at deflecting the solar wind particles from the Sun. The moon Titan orbits within the outer part of Saturn's magnetosphere and contributes plasma from the ionized particles in Titan's outer atmosphere. Saturn's magnetosphere, like Earth's, produces aurorae. The average distance between Saturn and"
"agencies. These missions consist of flybys in 1979 by ""Pioneer 11"", in 1980 by ""Voyager 1"", in 1982 by ""Voyager 2"" and an orbital mission by the ""Cassini"" spacecraft, which lasted from 2004 until 2017. Saturn has at least 62 known moons, although the exact number is debatable since Saturn's rings are made up of vast numbers of independently orbiting objects of varying sizes. The largest of the moons is Titan, which holds the distinction of being the only moon in the Solar System with an atmosphere denser and thicker than that of Earth. Titan holds the distinction of being"
"Enceladus Enceladus (; ) is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies of the Solar System. Consequently, its surface temperature at noon only reaches , far colder than a light-absorbing body would be. Despite its small size, Enceladus has a wide range of surface features, ranging from old, heavily cratered regions to young, tectonically deformed terrains. Enceladus was discovered on August 28, 1789, by William Herschel, but little was known about"
"Titania (moon) Titania is the largest of the moons of Uranus and the eighth largest moon in the Solar System at a diameter of . Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, Titania is named after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"". Its orbit lies inside Uranus's magnetosphere. Titania consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, and is probably differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. A layer of liquid water may be present at the core–mantle boundary. The surface of Titania, which is relatively dark and slightly red in color, appears"
"Iapetus (moon) Iapetus (; ), or occasionally Japetus , is the third-largest natural satellite of Saturn, eleventh-largest in the Solar System, and the largest body in the Solar System known not to be in hydrostatic equilibrium. Iapetus is best known for its dramatic ""two-tone"" coloration. Discoveries by the ""Cassini"" mission in 2007 revealed several other unusual features, such as a massive equatorial ridge running three-quarters of the way around the moon. Iapetus was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini, an Italian astronomer, in October 1671. He had discovered it on the western side of Saturn and tried viewing it on the"
"less than half that of Triton (the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System) alone. The largest of the satellites, Titania, has a radius of 788.9 km, or less than half that of the Moon, but slightly more than that of Rhea, the second-largest moon of Saturn, making Titania the eighth-largest moon in the Solar System. Uranus is about 10,000 times more massive than its moons. As of 2016, Uranus is known to have 13 inner moons. Their orbits lie inside that of Miranda. All inner moons are intimately connected to the rings of Uranus, which probably resulted from the fragmentation"
"Jingpo Lacus Jingpo Lacus is a lake in the north polar region of Titan, the planet Saturn's largest moon. It and similarly sized Ontario Lacus are the largest known bodies of liquid on Titan after the three maria (Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare and Punga Mare). It is composed of liquid hydrocarbons (mainly methane and ethane). It is west of Kraken Mare at 73° N, 336° W, roughly 240 km (150 mi) long, similar to the length of Lake Onega on Earth. Its namesake is Jingpo Lake, a scenic lake in China. On 8 July 2009, ""Cassini""'s Visual and Infrared Mapping"
"the expansion continued, but some of the angular moment was transferred to Europa as the resonance caused its orbit to expand as well; the process continued until Europa encountered the 2:1 resonance with Ganymede. Eventually the drift rates of conjunctions between all three moons were synchronized and locked in the Laplace resonance. Ganymede is the largest and most massive moon in the Solar System. Its diameter of 5,268 km is 0.41 times that of Earth, 0.77 times that of Mars, 1.02 times that of Saturn's Titan (the second-largest moon), 1.08 times Mercury's, 1.09 times Callisto's, 1.45 times Io's and 1.51"
"Callisto (moon) </math>.</ref> Callisto (Jupiter IV) is the second-largest moon of Jupiter, after Ganymede. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System after Ganymede and Saturn's largest moon Titan, and the largest object in the Solar System not to be properly differentiated. Callisto was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. At in diameter, Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the planet Mercury but only about a third of its mass. It is the fourth Galilean moon of Jupiter by distance, with an orbital radius of about . It is not in an orbital resonance like the three other"
"thin that from a position on Saturn's equator, they would be almost invisible. However, from anywhere else on the planet, they could be seen as a spectacular arc stretching across half the celestial hemisphere. Saturn's moons would not look particularly impressive in its sky, as most are fairly small, and the largest are a long way from the planet. Even Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, appears only half the size of Earth's moon, and only grows as bright as −7. In fact, Titan is the dimmest of Saturn's large moons due to its great distance and low albedo; Mimas,"
"a retrograde orbiting moon in the outer Saturn system. It is the largest of the Saturnian irregular moons. Saturn's moons in fiction Several of Saturn's natural satellites have figured prominently in works of science fiction. Some works of fiction refer to several of Saturn's moons, or to no specific moon. Janus is a small inner moon of Saturn notable for having an orbit nearly identical to the orbit of the moon Epimetheus; the two swap orbital positions every four years. Mimas is a small, icy moon orbiting close to Saturn, notable for being scarred by Herschel crater, whose diameter is"
"came from materials in the Oort cloud, associated with comets, and not from the materials that formed Saturn in earlier times. Studies based on Enceladus's tidal-based geologic activity and the lack of evidence of extensive past resonances in Tethys, Dione, and Rhea's orbits suggest that the moons inward of Titan may be only 100 million years old. Moons of Saturn The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets less than 1 kilometer across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Saturn has 62 moons with confirmed orbits, 53 of which have names"
"Titan in fiction Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It has a substantial atmosphere and is the most Earth-like satellite in the Solar System, making it a popular science fiction setting. Science fiction set on Titan can be roughly divided into the pre- and post-Pioneer eras, with a division set by the flyby of Saturn by the ""Pioneer 11"" space probe on April 5, 1973, which showed that Titan's surface was too cold to sustain (Earthlike) life. Somewhat later, the arrival of ""Cassini–Huygens"" mission in 2004 with the ""Huygens"" probe's landing in 2005 showed the presence of hydrocarbon lakes"
"other planets and moons. Two were taken to Mars by the Viking program. In early 2005 the Cassini–Huygens mission delivered a specialized GC-MS instrument aboard the Huygens probe through the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. This instrument analyzed atmospheric samples along its descent trajectory and was able to vaporize and analyze samples of Titan's frozen, hydrocarbon covered surface once the probe had landed. These measurements compare the abundance of isotope(s) of each particle comparatively to earth's natural abundance. Also on board the Cassini–Huygens spacecraft was an ion and neutral mass spectrometer which had been taking"
"on Titan, leading to further changes in its depiction in science fiction. Titan in fiction Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It has a substantial atmosphere and is the most Earth-like satellite in the Solar System, making it a popular science fiction setting. Science fiction set on Titan can be roughly divided into the pre- and post-Pioneer eras, with a division set by the flyby of Saturn by the ""Pioneer 11"" space probe on April 5, 1973, which showed that Titan's surface was too cold to sustain (Earthlike) life. Somewhat later, the arrival of ""Cassini–Huygens"" mission in 2004 with"
"Erebor Mons Erebor Mons is a mountain on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. It is located near Titan's equator, between 4-5° south and 35-36° west, centered on , in the western part of Quivira region. It is 40 km across, more than 1 km high and has lobate flow features to its north and east. It is probably a cryovolcano. Erebor Mons is situated about 470 km to the north-northeast of a larger cryovolcanic construct, Doom Mons. Erebor Mons is one of the highest known mountains of Titan, but it is not readily discernible on radar or"
"giant in Norse mythology. Fornjot (moon) Fornjot ( ), or Saturn XLII (provisional designation S/2004 S 8), is the outermost natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on 4 May 2005 from observations taken between 12 December 2004, and 11 March 2005. It is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and it orbits Saturn at an average distance of 23,609 Mm in 1354 at an inclination of 168° to the ecliptic (160° to Saturn's equator) in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.186. Fornjot was"
"on August 15 and December 8, 2007. Titania is the largest and most massive Uranian moon, and the eighth most massive moon in the Solar System. Its density of 1.71 g/cm³, which is much higher than the typical density of Saturn's satellites, indicates that it consists of roughly equal proportions of water ice and dense non-ice components; the latter could be made of rock and carbonaceous material including heavy organic compounds. The presence of water ice is supported by infrared spectroscopic observations made in 2001–2005, which have revealed crystalline water ice on the surface of the moon. Water ice absorption"
"Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but with its larger volume Saturn is over 95 times more massive. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture; its astronomical symbol (♄) represents the god's sickle. Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron–nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds). This core is surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate"
"Russian billionaire Yuri Milner expressed interest in funding a ""low-cost, privately funded mission to Enceladus which can be launched relatively soon."" Speaking at the New Space Age conference in Seattle, Milner described Enceladus as ""the most promising candidate” for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. In September 2018, NASA and the Breakthrough Starshot Foundation, founded by Milner and tasked with the mission design, signed an agreement about cooperation and consulting in the missions initial concept phase. Enceladus Enceladus (; ) is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon,"
"convention that Titanean mountains are named after mountains in Tolkien's work. The name was formally announced on November 13, 2012. Mithrim Montes The Mithrim Montes are a range of mountains on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. The range is located near Titan's equator, between 1-3° south and 126-8° west and consists of three parallel ridges that are oriented east-west, spaced about 25 km apart. They are located within the region Xanadu. The highest peak is about high and is located on the southernmost of the ridges; it is the highest known peak on Titan. The Mithrim Montes"
"orbit, Iapetus is the only large moon from which the rings of Saturn would be clearly visible; from the other inner moons, the rings would be edge-on and difficult to see. From Iapetus, Saturn would appear to be 1°56' in diameter (four times the size of the Moon viewed from Earth). The low density of Iapetus indicates that it is mostly composed of ice, with only a small (~20%) amount of rocky materials. Unlike most of the large moons, its overall shape is neither spherical nor ellipsoid, but has a bulging waistline and squashed poles; also, its unique equatorial ridge"
"Ganymede (moon) Ganymede (Jupiter III) is the largest and most massive moon of Jupiter and in the Solar System. The ninth largest object in the Solar System, it is the largest without a substantial atmosphere. It has a diameter of and is 8% larger than the planet Mercury, although only 45% as massive. Possessing a metallic core, it has the lowest moment of inertia factor of any solid body in the Solar System and is the only moon known to have a magnetic field. It is the third of the Galilean moons, the first group of objects discovered orbiting another"
"was measured by ""Cassini"" to about 5.5 hours. This is the fastest known rotation of all of Saturn's moons. It was named in April 2007 after Hati, a giant wolf from Norse mythology, son of Fenrisúlfr and twin brother of Sköll. Hati (moon) Hati ( ) or Saturn XLIII (provisional designation S/2004 S 14) is a natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on 4 May 2005, from observations taken between 12 December 2004 and 11 March 2005. Hati is about 6 kilometers in diameter, and"
"Ligeia Mare. In 2015, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) awarded a Phase II grant to a design study of a submarine to explore the seas of Titan. Ligeia Mare Ligeia Mare is a lake in the north polar region of Titan, the planet Saturn's largest moon. It is the second largest body of liquid on the surface of Titan, after Kraken Mare. Larger than Lake Superior on Earth, it is mostly composed of liquid methane, with unknown but lesser components of dissolved nitrogen and ethane, as well as other organic compounds. It is located at 78° N, 249°"
"is Phoebe, the largest of the outer moons. Although Phoebe's composition is closer to that of the bright hemisphere of Iapetus than the dark one, dust from Phoebe would only be needed to establish a contrast in albedo, and presumably would have been largely obscured by later sublimation. The discovery of a tenuous disk of material in the plane of and just inside Phoebe's orbit was announced on 6 October 2009, supporting the model. The disk extends from 128 to 207 times the radius of Saturn, while Phoebe orbits at an average distance of 215 Saturn radii. It was detected"
"discovered by direct observation using optical telescopes. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, was discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens using a objective lens on a refracting telescope of his own design. Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus (the ""Sidera Lodoicea"") were discovered between 1671 and 1684 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Mimas and Enceladus were discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Hyperion was discovered in 1848 by W.C. Bond, G.P. Bond and William Lassell. The use of long-exposure photographic plates made possible the discovery of additional moons. The first to be discovered in this manner, Phoebe, was found in 1899 by W.H. Pickering."
"Triton (moon) Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune, and the first Neptunian moon to be discovered. The discovery was made on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, an orbit in the direction opposite to its planet's rotation. At in diameter, it is the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto's, Triton is thought to have been a dwarf planet captured from the Kuiper belt. It has a surface of mostly frozen"
"by the ""Cassini"" orbiter. However, its great distance from Saturn makes close observation difficult. ""Cassini"" made one targeted close flyby, at a minimum range of , on September 10, 2007. The monolith featured at the climax of Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 novel is located on Iapetus. Iapetus (moon) Iapetus (; ), or occasionally Japetus , is the third-largest natural satellite of Saturn, eleventh-largest in the Solar System, and the largest body in the Solar System known not to be in hydrostatic equilibrium. Iapetus is best known for its dramatic ""two-tone"" coloration. Discoveries by the ""Cassini"" mission in 2007 revealed several"
"view of the rings would be available, although the greater distance would make Saturn appear smaller in the sky; from Phoebe, the largest of Saturn's irregular moons, Saturn would appear only as big as the full Moon does from Earth. The play of distance and angle is quite sensitive to the values used, but calculations show the best view of the rings would be achieved from the inner moon Mimas, which lies a full 1.5° off Saturn's equatorial plane ""and"" is fairly near the rings. At their widest opening, when Mimas is at its maximum distance from Saturn's equatorial plane,"
"Greip (moon) Greip ( ), or Saturn LI (provisional designation S/2006 S 4), is a natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on 26 June 2006, from observations taken between 5 January and 1 May 2006. Greip is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 18,066 Mm in 906.556 days, at an inclination of 172.7° to the ecliptic (159.2° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.3735. It is named after Greip, a giantess in"
"ice giants. Some asteroids share the same names as moons of Saturn: 55 Pandora, 106 Dione, 577 Rhea, 1809 Prometheus, 1810 Epimetheus, and 4450 Pan. In addition, two more asteroids previously shared the names of Saturnian moons until spelling differences were made permanent by the International Astronomical Union (IAU): Calypso and asteroid 53 Kalypso; and Helene and asteroid 101 Helena. 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 55 small moons, together"
"Sotra Patera Sotra Patera (named after the Sotra islands in Norway) is a prominent depression on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It was formerly known as Sotra Facula; the current name was approved on 19 December 2012. It is a possible cryovolcanic caldera across and deep, and is immediately to the east of the largest putative cryovolcanic mountain on Titan, the high Doom Mons. Sotra Patera is the deepest known pit on Titan. The ice volcano or cryovolcano Doom Mons forms a roughly circular mountain measuring about across. It has two peaks standing about and high with multiple craters,"