A new moon for Saturn – a family affair

Professor Keith Mason, CEO of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) said, "It is amazing to think that when Cassini embarked upon its epic journey to Saturn in 1997, we only knew about 18 of its moons. Since then, through observations from ground based telescopes and the Cassini spacecraft, a further 42 have been identified!"

This latest satellite was first detected by Professor Carl Murray, a Cassini Imaging Team scientist from Queen Mary, University London (QMUL). It was found in a series of images taken from the wide-angle camera onboard Cassini on 30th May 2007.

Initial calculations, which show the moon to be only approximately 2 km (1 mile) wide, indicate that the orbit of the moon lies between those of two other Saturnian moons, Methone and Pallene (also discovered by the Cassini Imaging Team in 2004).

Professor Murray takes up the story, "The Saturnian system continues to amaze and intrigue us with many hidden treasures being discovered the more closely we look. After initially detecting this extremely faint object, we carried out an exhaustive search of all Cassini images to date and were able to find further detections."

The latest discovery suggests that the three satellites may form part of a family of moons in this region. Naturally we are going to use Cassini's cameras to search for additional family members."

Professor Murray was also the first person to detect another moon of Saturn, Polydeuces, seen in Cassini images in October 2004. However, he is keen to emphasise the collaborative nature of this work: "Finding new moons and working out their orbits is a group effort. The credit for both of these discoveries should go to the entire Cassini Imaging Team."

The closest approach to the satellite to date was on 28th June 2007 when Cassini passed at a distance of 32,000 km. Scientists hope to be able to get a closer look at the newly identified moon later in the mission.

Affectionately known as "Frank" to the QMUL scientists that first identified it, the satellite is set to have a more fitting name assigned to it - akin to its "cousins" Methone and Pallene - who are named after the Greek Alkyonides. This is a decision for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) - the body responsible for officially naming planetary objects. So far only 48 of the 60 moons discovered have been given names. "Frank" has received the preliminary designation S/2007 S 4 by the IAU. See notes to editors for further details about the naming of moons.

For further information, images and movies see:-

• Cassini Equinox Mission (link opens in a new window)
• CICLOPS website (link opens in a new window), Official Source of Cassini images of Saturn, its rings & moons

Cassini moons webpages (link opens in a new window) |

Contacts

• Gill Ormrod
  Science and Technology Facilities Council
  Press Office
  Tel: 01793 442 012
  Mobile: 0781 8013 509
  
  
• Sian Halkyard
  Queen Mary, University of London
  Press Office
  Tel: 020 7882 7454
  
  
• Carolina Martinez
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Pasadena
  California, USA
  Tel: 00 1 818 354 9382

UK Science Contacts

• Prof Carl Murray
  member of the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem Team
  Queen Mary, University of London
  Tel: 020 7882 5456
  Mobile: 07976 243 883
  
  
• Dr Kevin Beurle
  Queen Mary, University of London
  Tel: 020 7882 5515
  Mobile: 07973 742 109
  
  
• Dr Mike Evans
  Queen Mary, University of London
  Tel: 020 7882 3181

Notes to Editors

Naming of Moons

Satellites in the Saturnian system are named after gods and giants from Greco-Roman and other mythologies. For a full list of Saturn's moons, the origin of their names and their discoverers see http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/append7.html

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

UK involvement in Cassini Huygens

UK scientists are playing significant roles in the mission with involvement in 6 of the 12 instruments onboard the Cassini orbiter and 2 of the 6 instruments on the Huygens probe. The UK has the lead role in the magnetometer instrument on Cassini (Imperial College London) and the Science Surface Package on Huygens (Open University).

The Science and Technology Facilities Council has funded UK scientists from Open University, Imperial College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford University, Queen Mary, University of London, Leicester University, Sheffield University and Southampton University. A number of UK industries have also contributed to the mission, namely Martin Baker Aircraft Company Ltd, Logica CMG, Irvin GQ, IGG Component Technology, Ultra Electronics.