Chiron (Greek: ''Χείρων'') is the name given to a supposed
moon of
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
sighted by
Hermann Goldschmidt in 1861. It has since been determined that no such moon exists.
Hermann Goldschmidt announced the discovery of the ninth moon of Saturn in April 1861, which, he said, orbited between
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
and
Hyperion
Hyperion may refer to:
Greek mythology
* Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans
* ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios
* Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam
Science
* Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn
* ''Hyp ...
. Goldschmidt's discovery was never confirmed, and Chiron was never observed again.
In 1898,
William Henry Pickering discovered
Phoebe, which is now considered the ninth moon of Saturn.
Strangely, in 1905, Pickering believed that he had discovered another moon of Saturn, which, he reported, orbited the
planet between Titan and Hyperion. He called this new moon
Themis. Themis, like Chiron, was never sighted again.
An object, now classified as a
centaur
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
, which was discovered in 1977, is named
2060 Chiron
2060 Chiron is a small Solar System body in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. Discovered in 1977 by Charles Kowal, it was the first-identified member of a new class of objects now known as centaurs—bodies orb ...
.
See also
*
List of hypothetical Solar System objects
A hypothetical Solar System object is a planet, natural satellite, subsatellite or similar body in the Solar System whose existence is not known, but has been inferred from observational scientific evidence. Over the years a number of hypothetic ...
References
External links
Saturn's Ninth and Tenth Moons
Moons of Saturn
Hypothetical moons
Hypothetical bodies of the Solar System
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