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Siarnaq

File:Siarnaq_Cassini_color_composite.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ18024· pop 43· linked from 154 articles

Also known as Saturn XXIX, S/2000 S 3, S/2000 S 3

Siarnaq is the second-largest irregular moon of Saturn. It was discovered on 23 September 2000 by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman. It was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, Siarnaq, who is more commonly known as Sedna. Siarnaq is the largest member of Saturn's Inuit group of prograde irregular moons, which orbit far from Saturn in the same direction as the planet's rotation. The moons of the Inuit group are believed to have originated as fragments from the collisional breakup of a larger progenitor moon after it was gravitationally captured into orbit around Saturn several

Key facts

Planet.name
Siarnaq
Planet.image
Siarnaq Cassini color composite.png
Planet.caption
Composite of three images taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2013, showing Siarnaq's location at ten-minute intervals
Planet.mpc_name
Saturn XXIX
Planet.alt_names
S/2000 S 3
Planet.named_after
Siarnaq
Planet.adjectives
Siarnaupian, Siarnaqian
Planet.discoverer
Brett J. Gladman et al.
Planet.discovery_site
Mauna Kea Obs.
Planet.discovered
23 September 2000
Planet.epoch
17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5)
Planet.eccentricity
0.5293834
Planet.period
+2.42 yr (+883.87 d)
Planet.mean_anomaly
35.08520°
Planet.inclination
43.80073°
Planet.asc_node
40.96116°
Planet.arg_peri
79.59603°
Planet.satellite_of
Saturn

via Wikipedia infobox

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

12 sections
Contents
  • Discovery
  • Follow-up and confirmation
  • Name
  • Background
  • Physical characteristics
  • Diameter and albedo
  • Surface and composition
  • Shape and rotation
  • Orbit and group
  • Notes
  • References
  • External links

Siarnaq is the second-largest irregular moon of Saturn. It was discovered on 23 September 2000 by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman. It was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, Siarnaq, who is more commonly known as Sedna. Siarnaq is the largest member of Saturn's Inuit group of prograde irregular moons, which orbit far from Saturn in the same direction as the planet's rotation. The moons of the Inuit group are believed to have originated as fragments from the collisional breakup of a larger progenitor moon after it was gravitationally captured into orbit around Saturn several billion years ago. Several other small Inuit group moons share similar orbits to Siarnaq, indicating that the moon had experienced another collision after forming from its progenitor.

== Discovery == thumb|left|Discovery images of Siarnaq taken by the CFHT in September 2000 Siarnaq was discovered on 23 September 2000, by an international team of astronomers consisting of Brett J. Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Phil Nicholson and Joseph A. Burns. The discovery of Siarnaq formed part of an observational campaign to search for distant irregular satellites around Saturn. The campaign was coordinated by Gladman in late 2000 using various ground-based telescopes equipped with sensitive CCD cameras to survey Saturn's Hill sphere, the region within which satellites can have stable orbits around the planet.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Siarnaq” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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