Telesto (moon)

Telesto

Telesto as seen by the Cassini probe in October 2005
Discovery
Discovered by	Bradford A. Smith Harold Reitsema Stephen M. Larson John W. Fountain
Discovery date	April 8, 1980
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis	294619 km
Eccentricity	0.000
Orbital period	1.887802 d [1]
Inclination	1.19° (to Saturn's equator)
Satellite of	Saturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	32.6 × 23.6 × 20.0 km [2]
Mean radius	12.4±0.4 km [2]
Rotation period	synchronous
Axial tilt	zero
Apparent magnitude	18.7 [3]

Telesto (/tᵻˈlɛstoʊ/ tə-LES-toh, Greek: Τελεστώ) is a moon of Saturn. It was discovered by Smith, Reitsema, Larson and Fountain in 1980 from ground-based observations, and was provisionally designated S/1980 S 13.^[4] In the following months, several other apparitions were observed: S/1980 S 24,^[5] S/1980 S 33,^[6] and S/1981 S 1.^[7]

In 1983 it was officially named after Telesto of Greek mythology.^{[lower-alpha 1]} It is also designated as Saturn XIII (13) or Tethys B.

Telesto is co-orbital with Tethys, residing in Tethys' leading Lagrangian point (L₄). This relationship was first identified by Seidelmann et al. in 1981.^[8] Another moon, Calypso, resides in the other (trailing) Lagrangian point of Tethys, 60 degrees in the other direction from Tethys. The Saturnian system has two additional trojan moons.

Exploration

The Cassini probe performed a distant flyby of Telesto on October 11, 2005. The resulting images show that its surface is surprisingly smooth, devoid of small impact craters.

Citations

1. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. XVIIIA, 1982 (confirms Janus, names Epimetheus, Telesto, Calypso) (mentioned in IAUC 3872)

1. NASA Celestia Archived March 9, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
2. Thomas 2010.
3. Hamilton.
4. IAUC 3466.
5. IAUC 3484.
6. IAUC 3605.
7. IAUC 3593.
8. Seidelmann Harrington et al. 1981.

References

• Hamilton, Calvin J. "Saturn's Trojan Moon Telesto". SolarViews.com. SolarViews. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Marsden, Brian G. (April 10, 1980). "Satellites of Saturn" (discovery). IAU Circular 3466. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Marsden, Brian G. (June 6, 1980). "Satellites of Saturn". IAU Circular 3484. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Marsden, Brian G. (April 16, 1981). "Satellites of Saturn". IAU Circular 3593. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Marsden, Brian G. (May 18, 1981). "Satellites of Saturn". IAU Circular 3605. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Marsden, Brian G. (September 30, 1983). "Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn". IAU Circular 3872. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
• Seidelmann, P. K.; Harrington, R. S.; Pascu, D.; Baum, W. A.; Currie, D. G.; Westphal, J. A.; Danielson, G. E. (1981). "Saturn satellite observations and orbits from the 1980 ring plane crossing". Icarus 47 (2): 282. Bibcode:1981Icar...47..282S. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(81)90172-X.
• Thomas, P. C. (July 2010). "Sizes, shapes, and derived properties of the saturnian satellites after the Cassini nominal mission" (PDF). Icarus 208 (1): 395–401. Bibcode:2010Icar..208..395T. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.01.025.

External links

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• Telesto Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
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