Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period [1] of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the sidereal rotation period (or sidereal day), i.e., the time that the object takes to complete a full rotation around its axis relative to the background stars (inertial space).
Many of them, such as Pan and Daphnis, orbit within Saturn's ring system and have orbital periods only slightly longer than the planet's rotation period. [46] The innermost moons and most regular satellites all have mean orbital inclinations ranging from less than a degree to about 1.5 degrees (except Iapetus , which has an inclination of 7.57 ...
The Moon's orbit is inclined by several degrees relative to Saturn's, so occultations will only occur when Saturn is near one of the points in the sky where the two planes intersect (both the length of Saturn's year and the 18.6-Earth-year nodal precession period of the Moon's orbit influence the periodicity).
Titan orbits Saturn once every 15 days and 22 hours. [28] Like Earth's Moon and many of the satellites of the giant planets, its rotational period (its day) is identical to its orbital period; Titan is tidally locked in synchronous rotation with Saturn, and permanently
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.
Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, but with a mean diameter of 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) it is less than a third the radius of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Rhea is an icy body with a density of about 1.236 g/cm 3. This low density indicates that it is made of ~25% rock (density ~3.25 g/cm 3) and ~75% water ice (density ~0.93 g/cm 3).
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Tidal forces between Earth and the Moon have synchronized the Moon's orbital period (lunar month) with its rotation period at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth.
In March 2013, the synodic rotational period was measured by Cassini to about 5.45 ± 0.04 hours. This is the fastest known rotation of all of Saturn's moons, [2] and in fact the fastest known among all moons (including asteroid moons) for which a rotation period has been reliably measured. Like Mundilfari, it is very elongated in shape.