The moons of Saturn

Abstract

Knowledge gained of the 17 Saturn moons with observations by the Voyager spacecraft are reviewed. Titan was found to have the only atmosphere, which is opaque and precludes geologic inferences. Synchronous rotation is experienced by the 14 inner moons, with a constant inner face turned toward the planet. Phoebe is too far away from the planet to lose its spin to planetary tidal forces, and has an orbit inclined 150 deg from the equatorial plane, while Iapetus is inclined 14.7 deg in its orbit. The abundance of ice on the moons is accepted as evidence of condensation formation of the moons at very low temperatures. Newly discovered moons of Saturn, including both the shepherd moons, which are suspected to maintain the rings in place, and the moons discovered by earth-based astronomy, are discussed. Finally, photographs of all the moons are examined for definitive details.