Bebhionn (), also known as Saturn XXXVII, is a small, irregular

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 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 ...

, and Brian G. Marsden on 4 May 2005 from observations taken between 12 December 2004 and 9 March 2005. Bebhionn is about 6 kilometres in diameter and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 16,898 Mm in 820.130 days at an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 41° 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 ...

(18° to Saturn's equator) 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 0.333. The rotation period of Bebhionn was measured at hours by the ISS camera of the Cassini spacecraft.T. Denk, S. Mottola, ''et al.'' (2011): Rotation Periods of Irregular Satellites of Saturn
EPSC/DPS conference 2011
Nantes (France)
abstract 1452
Bebhionn's

light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph (discrete mathematics), graph of the Radiance, light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude (astronomy), magnitude of light received on the ''y''-axis ...

reflects an elongated shape with large variations in brightness, making it a leading candidate for a contact binary or binary moon.

Name

The moon was named in April 2007 after Béibhinn (Béḃinn), an early Irish goddess of birth, who was renowned for her beauty. In Irish, Béibhinn/Béḃinn is pronounced (southern accents, English approximation ) or (northern accents, English approximation ). The

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

"bh" (older " ḃ") indicates that the second consonant is softened to a "v" sound. The extra "o" in the unusual spelling ''Bebhionn'' suggests that the final "nn" should be broad , but is not itself pronounced. The name is still pronounced as a compound (and thus sometimes spelled ''Bé Binn'' etc.), so the unstressed vowel is not reduced to a schwa.

References

External links

Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data

May 3, 2005 (include

May 4, 2005 (discovery)

May 3, 2005 (discovery and ephemeris)

April 5, 2007 (naming the moon) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bebhionn (Moon) Gallic group Moons of Saturn Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard 20050504 Moons with a prograde orbit