Key facts
- Discovered by
- Scott S. Sheppard , David C. Jewitt , Jan T. Kleyna , Brian G. Marsden
- Discovery date
- December 2004
- Designation
- Saturn XLII
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ f ɔːr n j oʊ t / , Icelandic: [ ˈfɔ(r)tnˌjouːt ]
- Named after
- Fornjót
- Alternative names
- S/2004 S 8
- Semi major axis
- 25 108 000 km
- Orbital period sidereal
- −1490.9 days
- Inclination
- 170.4°
- Satellite of
- Saturn
- Group
- Norse group
- Mean diameter
- 6 +50%, −30% km
- Synodic rotation period
- (6.9 or 9.5) ± 0.4? h
- Albedo
- 0.06 (assumed)
- Spectral type
- r – i = 0.20 ± 0.09
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 6
- Orbital period
- -1490.9
- Image
- Fornjot-cassini.png
Show 8 more facts
- time of discovery or invention
- 2004-12-12
- provisional designation
- S/2004 S 8
- Commons category
- Fornjot
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 23608938
- name
- Saturn XLII
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.206
- orbital inclination
- 170.4
- apparent magnitude
- 24.6
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
Fornjot /ˈfɔːrnjoʊt/ or Saturn XLII is the outermost named moon 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 had the largest semi-major axis among all the known moons of Saturn until the recovery of Saturn LVIII in 2019.
It is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and it orbits Saturn at an average distance of 23,609 Mm in 1491 d at an inclination of 168° to the ecliptic (160° to Saturn's equator) in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.186. It is ambiguous whether the rotation period is 6.9 or 9.5±0.4 hours, but it is known to show very little variation in brightness and is probably very round in shape. It was also the faintest moon that was measured by Cassini–Huygens.