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S/2020 S 1 is ∼3¾ kilometers in size and thus one of the small Irregular moons of Saturn. Its discovery has been announced in May 2023 joint with sixty-one other outer Saturnian moons. Its mean distance to Saturn is ∼11½ million kilometers, with one revolution around the planet on a prograde orbit requiring 1 year, 2 months and 3½ 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. Joint with these two moons and with S/2019 S 1 and S/2005 S 4, its mean distance to Saturn is among the lowest and its orbit period among the shortest of all Irregulars.
With an average eccentricity of ∼0.46, the orbit of S/2020 S 1 is quite elongated. This brings this moon closer to Saturn than most other known Irregular satellites (only its sibling S/2019 S 1 comes even closer).
This object has not been named yet. We made no attempt to observe it with Cassini because it was unknown at the time Cassini was active. Note that the orbital elements in the MPEC announcement are current values, not mean elements (time-averaged over a few thousand years) as given for the pre-2023 announced objects.
Last update: 19 May 2023 — page content is best displayed on a screen at least 1024 pixels wide
© Tilmann Denk (2023)