File:Mundilfari-discovery-CFHT.gif · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Gladman et al.
- Designation
- Saturn XXV
- Pronunciation
- Icelandic: [ ˈmʏntɪlvarɪ ]
- Named after
- Mundilfari
- Alternative names
- S/2000 S 9
- Semi major axis
- 18 590 300 km
- Orbital period sidereal
- −952.95 days
- Inclination
- 168.4°
- Satellite of
- Saturn
- Group
- Norse group
- Dimensions
- 11.78 × 7 × 5.86 km
- Mean diameter
- 7 +50%, −30% km
- Mean density
- ≳0.3–0.5 g/cm
- Synodic rotation period
- 6.74 ± 0.08 hours
- Albedo
- 0.06 (assumed)
- Spectral type
- P
via Wikipedia infobox
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Mundilfari, or Saturn XXV, is a natural satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by Brett J. Gladman, et al. in 2000, and given the temporary designation S/2000 S 9. Mundilfari is about 7 kilometers in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 18,5903 Mm in 952.95 days, an averaged eccentricity of 0.210, and at an inclination of 168.4° to the ecliptic in a retrograde sense (compared to Saturn's orbit around the Sun).
Mundilfari may have formed from debris knocked off Phoebe by large impacts at some point in the Solar System's history, but it is on an orbit sufficiently different from Phoebe that this may be difficult to reconcile. With a spectral slope of −5.0%/100, Mundilfari is the bluest of all the moons studied by Grav and Bauer (2007), slightly more so than Phoebe (−2.5%/100 nm) and about as blue as Erriapus (+5.1%/100 nm) is red. Its rotation period is 6.74±0.08 hours, the second-fastest among all the irregular moons studied by Cassini–Huygens after Hati, and it appears to be very elongated in shape.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mundilfari” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.