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The Moons Of Saturn
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Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth largest moon of Saturn. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Little was known about Enceladus until the two Voyager spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s. Enceladus is located in Saturn’s E Ring. In 2005, Cassini Huygens probe discovered that Enceladus has a water-rich plume venting from Enceladus's south polar region. Atmosphere Composition: 91% water vapour 4% nitrogen 3.2% carbon dioxide 1.7% methane Mass: ( ± )×1020 kg Enceladus’s Water Plume as shown by Cassini
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Titan Titan (or Saturn VI) is the largest moon of Saturn. It was discovered by Christiaan Huygens .It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere and is the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of surface liquid has been found. In 2005, the Huygens probe successfully landed on titan and relayed back pictures of the surface under the moons massive atmosphere bigger than earth’s. Surface area: 8.3×107 km2 Volume: 7.16×1010 km3 Mass: (1.3452±0.0002)×1023 kg Atmosphere Composition 98.4% Nitrogen 1.6% Methane with a small percentage of hydrogen. Huygens discovered that there was liquid methane on the surface of Titan as this picture shows.
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Mimas Mimas was discovered by William Herschel in it is named after Mimas, the son of Gaia, in Greek Mythology. It has a diameter of 369 km and is currently the 21st largest moon in the Solar System. Mimas is the smallest astronomical body to be rounded in shape due to self-gravitation. Mimas; surface area is slightly less than that of Spain. The low density of this moon shows that it is mostly composed of water ice and a small quantity of rock. As it has tidal forces acting upon it, the moon is noticeably prolate- its longest axis is 10% longer than the shortest. The moons most distinctive feature is a giant impact crater 81 miles across ,called Hershel . The crater’s diameter is almost a third of the entire moons and its walls are around 5km high.
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Hyperion Hyperion was the first moon found to be non-regular in 1841 by 3 different people, each discovering it within days of each other. It is the second largest known irregular moon after Neptune’s Proetus. The reason for it being irregular is because there isn’t enough mass to make it regular (it is about 15% of the mass of Mimas). Due to its low density, it is presumed to be mostly composed of water and ice with a small amount of rock. Some scientists believe that it could be part of another one of Saturn’s moons named Phoebe because of it has a thin layer of dark material on the surface, much like Phoebe’s. Temperature: −180 C Composition: Mostly Ice water Mass: (5.6199±0.05)×1018 kg
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Rhea Second largest moon of Saturn and ninth-largest moon in the solar system. Discovered in 1672 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Named after the Greek Titan Rhea, “Mother of the Gods”. It is also designated Saturn V, being the fifth major moon from the planet. John Herschel named the planet after the Greek God, as with other major planets of Saturn. Rhea is an icy body with a low density, suggesting that it is made of about 25% rock and 75% water ice. Rhea's features resemble those of Dione, with dissimilar leading and trailing hemispheres, suggesting similar composition and histories. The temperature on Rhea is 99 K (−174 °C) in direct sunlight and between 73 K (−200 °C) and 53 K (−220 °C) in the shade. Rhea has a rather heavily cratered surface and two massive impact basins.
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