Surtur or Saturn XLVIII (provisional designation S/2006 S 7) 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, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on June 26, 2006 from observations taken between January and April 2006. It was named after Surt, a leader of the fire giants of

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 ...

. Surtur is about 4 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 22.707 Mm in 1297.7 days. The Surtian orbit is retrograde, at an inclination of 177.5° to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of Earth's orbit, Earth around the Sun. It was a central concept in a number of ancient sciences, providing the framework for key measurements in astronomy, astrology and calendar-making. Fr ...

and with an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.451.

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References

External links

Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data

June 30, 2006 (discovery)

June 26, 2006 (discovery and ephemeris)

April 5, 2007 (naming the moon) {{DEFAULTSORT:Surtur (Moon) Norse group Moons of Saturn Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2006 Moons with a retrograde orbit