Eggther (Saturn LIX), provisionally known as S/2004 S 27, is a

natural satellite A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are colloquially referred to as moons, a deriv ...

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 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, and

Jan Kleyna Jan T. Kleyna is a postdoctoral astronomy researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System is a public college and university system in Hawaii. The system confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degre ...

on October 7, 2019 from observations taken between December 12, 2004 and March 21, 2007. It was given its permanent designation in August 2021. On 24 August 2022, it was officially named after Eggþér, a

jötunn A (also jotun; plural ; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; or, in Old English, , plural ) is a type of being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, are often contrasted with gods (the Æsir and Vanir) and with other no ...

from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. He is the

herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...

of the female jötunn (probably

Angrboða Angrboða (Old Norse: ; also Angrboda) is a'' jötunn'' in Norse mythology. She is the mate of Loki and the mother of monsters. She is only mentioned once in the Poetic Edda (''Völuspá hin skamma)'' as the mother of Fenrir by Loki. The Prose E ...

) who lives in

Járnviðr In Norse mythology, Járnviðr (Old Norse "Iron-wood"Lindow (2001:204-205).) is a forest located east of Midgard, inhabited by trollwomen who bore '' jötnar'' and giant wolves. Járnviðr is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th c ...

(Ironwood) and raises monstrous wolves. In the poem ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'', Eggþér is described as sitting on a

mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

and joyfully striking his

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

while the red rooster Fjalarr begins to crow to herald the onset of

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

. Eggther is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19.976 Gm in 1054.45 days, at an inclination of 168° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.122.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggther (Moon) Norse group Irregular satellites Moons of Saturn Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2019 Moons with a retrograde orbit