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S/2019 S 24 is ∼3½ kilometers in size and thus one of the small known Irregular moons of Saturn. Its discovery has been announced in March 2025 joint with 127 other outer Saturnian moons. Its mean distance to Saturn is ∼11 million kilometers, with one revolution around the planet on a retrograde orbit requiring 1 year, 2 months and 4 weeks. This moon is a member of the Inuit group and might be a collisional remnant of Kiviuq and/or Ijiraq which share very similar orbital elements.
This object has not been named yet. We made no attempt to observe S/2019 S 24 with the Cassini spacecraft because it was unknown at the time Cassini was active. If known, Cassini would have had an exceptionally good opportunity on 01 Aug 2004 (one month after orbit insertion; at 7.86 Gm distance to Saturn). While the spacecraft still moved outward during its first orbit, a close approach of S/2019 S 24 occured at only 420000 km altitude — a record proximity to an Irregular moon except for the targeted flyby at Phoebe a few weeks before. The spatial resolution of Cassini’s ISS camera at such a distance was 2.5 kilometers per pixel.
Note that the orbital elements in the MPEC announcement are current values, not mean elements (time-averaged over a few thousand years).
Last update: 19 May 2025 — page content is best displayed on a screen at least 1024 pixels wide
© Tilmann Denk (2025)