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S/2020 S 3 is ∼3 kilometers in size and thus among the smallest known 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 ∼18 million kilometers, with one revolution around the planet on a prograde orbit requiring 2 years and 5½ months.
This moon is a member of the Inuit group and might be a collisional remnant of Siarnaq which shares very similar orbital elements. With an eccentricity of only 0.04, the path of this moon around Saturn is almost circular. No other Saturnian Irregular moon with such a low eccentricity is known.
S/2020 S 3 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)