History UsefulNotes / TheMoonsOfSaturn

->''"You're not gonna believe this, I went to Phoebe instead of Titan. It's like hello Saturn, after 10 moons it's time to stop naming and start numbering."''
-->--''[[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Rick Sanchez]]''

The low density of these moons, at least the largest ones, suggests that, like Saturn's rings, they are primarily composed of water ice with a more or less large proportion of rock. Most of the larger ones might even have formed from left-over debris created when two or more moons collided ~100 million years ago to form Titan with the rings consisting of remnants from this event.

* ''Film/{{Gattaca}}''. Vincent is faking Jerome's identity to get into the space program--specifically an expedition to Titan. When Jerome wants to know what Titan is like, Vincent blows cigarette smoke into a wine glass to simulate the smoggy world, puzzling Jerome as to why anyone would want to go there.
* ''Film/ThePuppetmasters''. The invading mind-controlling slugs come from that world, and the novel ends with a human expedition being sent to attack it.

* Discoverd: 1671 by Giovanni Cassini

Another mid-size moon with surface features (cracks, troughs, smooth plains, rises and depressions) which seems to indicate past or present tectonic or volcanic activities. Pictures from the ''Voyager'' probes showed wispy white lines that were thought to be frost; Cassini proved them to be cliffs hundreds of meters high. Like Tethys, it also has orbit-mates, or Trojan moons — Helene and Polydeuces are irregular lumps of rock. It's also believed to be responsible for the cryovolcanism seen on Enceladus due to their 2:1 orbital resonance. But whether Enceladus affects it the same way is unknown.

The second-largest Saturnian moon[[note]]and larger than pretty much every other moon in the Solar System except for our own, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, Neptune's Triton and, just barely, the Uranian moon Titania[[/note]] and the only spherical one to not be in an orbital resonance or show any evidence to ever have been in one. It's named after the Wife of Saturn in mythology. The most interesting feature of this otherwise heavily-cratered moon is... a large crater, called Tirawa, with bright rays radiating outwards. Perhaps to compensate for general boringness Rhea, like {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}, may have a ring system (the only moon in the Solar System which would). The rings, however, would be very dark and very tenuous and Cassini ended up finding no trace of them.

''Cassini'' carried [[DropShip an atmospheric entry probe]], ''Huygens'' (built and managed by the [[UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} European Space Agency]] and named after the discoverer of this moon), along on its trip to the system. On its way there [[OhCrap the mission control team realized the Doppler shift caused by the differing velocities of Cassini and Huygens would cause its radio signals to become unreadable]]. They changed ''Huygens''[='=] approach vector to reduce the shift, and the data and pictures were successfully transmitted as the probe parachuted east of the Adiri region[[note]]see Titan map with the probe's landing site marked [[https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20713 here]][[/note]]. Unfortunately, half of them were never picked up because a programming error prevented ''Cassini'' from listening to one of the two data channels; nevertheless the pictures revealed a strangely Earth-like landscape of what looked like hills and sand dunes, drainage channels, islands and seas (all produced by hydrocarbons). After landing, pictures taken by ''Huygens'' from the surface showed a gloomy, orange-tinted plain covered with "ice pebbles" and a thick hydrocarbon fog. To date, these images are the most distant ones captured from a celestial body other than Earth and the Moon. The ''Huygens'' probe also carried a microphone, becoming the second probe after Venera 14 did so on Venus back in the 80s to record audio from a world other than Earth [[note]]the ''Phoenix'' Polar Lander on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} carried a microphone, but it was never switched on. Before that, the Mars Polar Lander was fitted with a microphone but that probe failed to land.[[/note]]. This mission will be followed by NASA's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(spacecraft) Dragonfly]]'' rotorcraft drone, expected to be launched if everything goes as planned next decade.

The low density of these moons, at least the largest ones, suggests that, like Saturn's rings, they are primarily composed of water ice with a more or less large proportion of rock.

''Cassini'' carried [[DropShip an atmospheric entry probe]], ''Huygens'' (built and managed by the [[UsefulNotes/{{ESA}} European Space Agency]] and named after the discoverer of this moon), along on its trip to the system. On its way there [[OhCrap the mission control team realized the Doppler shift caused by the differing velocities of Cassini and Huygens would cause its radio signals to become unreadable]]. They changed ''Huygens''[='=] approach vector to reduce the shift, and the data and pictures were successfully transmitted as the probe parachuted east of the Adiri region[[note]]see Titan map with the probe's landing site marked [[https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20713 here]][[/note]]. Unfortunately, half of them were never picked up because a programming error prevented ''Cassini'' from listening to one of the two data channels; nevertheless the pictures revealed a strangely Earth-like landscape of what looked like hills and sand dunes, drainage channels, islands and seas (all produced by hydrocarbons). After landing, pictures taken by ''Huygens'' from the surface showed a gloomy, orange-tinted plain covered with "ice pebbles" and a thick hydrocarbon fog. To date, these images are the most distant ones captured from a celestial body other than Earth and the Moon. The ''Huygens'' probe carried a the first ever microphone to record audio on a world other than Earth, and was the first probe to transmit audio recordings from another world in our Solar System. [[note]]the ''Phoenix'' Polar Lander on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} carried a microphone, but it was never switched on. Before that, the Mars Polar Lander was fitted with a microphone but that probe failed to land.[[/note]]. This mission will be followed by NASA's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(spacecraft) Dragonfly]]'' rotorcraft drone, expected to be launched if everything goes as planned next decade.

Like Mimas and Tethys. Enceladus is in an 2:1 orbital resonance with another mid-size moon. Namely Dione and their gravitational interactions are believed to fuel Enceladus cryovolcanism.

A small moon that got hit by a big rock at some point and just barely avoiding breaking up. This had led the moon to resemble [[Franchise/StarWars the Death Star]], with a 130-km crater named Herschel that almost exactly corresponds to the fictional space station's laser dish.[[note]]The ''Voyager'' probes discovered the crater three years after the original ''Star Wars'' was released, so whatever the faults of Creator/GeorgeLucas are, plagiarism isn't one of them. At least, [[Film/TheHiddenFortress not this time]].[[/note]] The impact was probably also large enough to affect Mimas' orbit, as its eccentricity and inclination are both unusually high.[[note]]meaning it has a very elongated orbit at a large angle from Saturn's equator[[/note]] It's also slightly egg-shaped, with the long end pointed toward {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}} and in an 2:1 orbital resonance with Tethys. Making two orbits around Saturn for every single done by Tethys but the small size of the two and distance between them means that they aren't affecting each other that much. It's also responsible for clearing the so called Cassini Division between Saturns A and B rings. Bizarrely, a temperature map produced by NASA showed that the warmer regions of the moon [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329153533.htm looks like Pac-Man]].

A mid-size moon marked by a very long (2000km), very wide (100km) and very deep (3-5km) canyon system, Ithaca Chasma. Some scientists theorized that Tethys used to have subsurface liquid water before it all froze solid, causing the surface to "crack".

You think ''[[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfJupiter Jupiter]]'' has a lot of moons? Well, ''UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}} has'' '''''82 of them!''''' 53 of these have official names, and 7 of them have enough mass to become spherical under their own gravity. Technically the rings could be considered conglomerations of millions of moons, but there's only so much space on the Internet. They were originally all named after Titans of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myths]], (the Roman god Saturn being roughly equivalent to the Greek Kronos, king of the Titans)[[note]]The Roman mythology didn't focus as much on the doings of the gods as the Greeks did, and so the Roman story of the Titans and the Titanomachy was basically lifted wholesale from the Greeks, but Saturn was a preexisting figure in the mythology and seems to have fairly consistently been the father of Jupiter.[[/note]] but so many have been discovered that they ran out of Titans, and thus the outer "irregular" moons have been divided into the "Gallic", "Norse" and "Inuit" groups after the sources of their names.

82 of these, 53 with official names, 7 with enough mass to become spherical under their own gravity. Technically the rings could be considered conglomerations of millions of moons, but there's only so much space on the Internet. They were originally all named after Titans of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myths]], (the Roman god Saturn being roughly equivalent to the Greek Kronos, king of the Titans)[[note]]The Roman mythology didn't focus as much on the doings of the gods as the Greeks did, and so the Roman story of the Titans and the Titanomachy was basically lifted wholesale from the Greeks, but Saturn was a preexisting figure in the mythology and seems to have fairly consistently been the father of Jupiter.[[/note]] but so many have been discovered that they ran out of Titans, and thus the outer "irregular" moons have been divided into the "Gallic", "Norse" and "Inuit" groups after the sources of their names.

A small moon that got hit by a big rock at some point and just barely avoiding breaking up. This had led the moon to resemble [[Franchise/StarWars the Death Star]], with a 130-km crater named Herschel that almost exactly corresponds to the fictional space station's laser dish.[[note]]The ''Voyager'' probes discovered the crater three years after the original ''Star Wars'' was released, so whatever the faults of Creator/GeorgeLucas are, plagiarism isn't one of them. At least, [[Film/TheHiddenFortress not this time]].[[/note]] The impact was probably also large enough to affect Mimas' orbit, as it carries a high degree of eccentricity and inclination.[[note]]Ie, it has a very elongated orbit far from Saturns equator. Having probably being knocked there by the impact[[/note]] It's also slightly egg-shaped, with the long end pointed toward {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}} and in an 2:1 orbital resonance with Tethys. Making two orbits around Saturn for every single done by Tethys but the small size of the two and distance between them means that they aren't affecting each other that much. It's also responsible for clearing the so called Cassini Division between Saturns A and B rings. Bizarrely, a temperature map produced by NASA showed that the warmer regions of the moon [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329153533.htm looks like Pac-Man]].

A small moon that got hit by a big rock at some point and just barely avoiding breaking up. This had led the moon to resemble [[Franchise/StarWars the Death Star]], with a 130-km crater named Herschel that almost exactly corresponds to the fictional space station's laser dish.[[note]]The ''Voyager'' probes discovered the crater three years after the original ''Star Wars'' was released, so whatever the faults of Creator/GeorgeLucas are, plagiarism isn't one of them. At least, [[Film/TheHiddenFortress not this time]].[[/note]] The impact was probably also large enough to affect Mimas orbit, as it carries a high degree of eccentricity and inclination.[[note]]Ie, it has a very elongated orbit far from Saturns equator. Having probably being knocked there by the impact[[/note]] It's also slightly egg-shaped, with the long end pointed toward {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}} and in an 2:1 orbital resonance with Tethys. Making two orbits around Saturn for every single done by Tethys but the small size of the two and distance between them means that they aren't affecting each other that much. It's also responsible for clearing the so called Cassini Division between Saturns A and B rings. Bizarrely, a temperature map produced by NASA showed that the warmer regions of the moon [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329153533.htm looks like Pac-Man]].

The second-largest Saturnian moon and the only spherical one to not be in an orbital resonance or show any evidence to ever have been in one. It's named after the Wife of Saturn in mythology. The most interesting feature of this otherwise heavily-cratered moon is... a large crater, called Tirawa, with bright rays radiating outwards. Perhaps to compensate for general boringness Rhea, like {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}, may have a ring system (the only moon in the Solar System which would). The rings, however, would be very dark and very tenuous and Cassini ended up finding no trace of them.

82 of these, 53 with official names. Technically the rings could be considered conglomerations of millions of moons, but there's only so much space on the Internet. They were originally all named after Titans of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myths]], (the Roman god Saturn being roughly equivalent to the Greek Kronos, king of the Titans)[[note]]The Roman mythology didn't focus as much on the doings of the gods as the Greeks did, and so the Roman story of the Titans and the Titanomachy was basically lifted wholesale from the Greeks, but Saturn was a preexisting figure in the mythology and seems to have fairly consistently been the father of Jupiter.[[/note]] but so many have been discovered that they ran out of Titans, and thus the outer "irregular" moons have been divided into the "Gallic", "Norse" and "Inuit" groups after the sources of their names.

The second-largest Saturnian moon and the only spherical one to not be in an orbital resonance or have any indication to ever have been in one. It's named after the Wife of Saturn in mythology. The most interesting feature of this otherwise heavily-cratered moon is... a large crater, called Tirawa, with bright rays radiating outwards. Perhaps to compensate for general boringness Rhea, like {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}, may have a ring system (the only moon in the Solar System which would). The rings, however, would be very dark and very tenuous.

Its orbit is also somewhat unusual due having an high degree of eccentricity yet no resonance partner that would explain it (it's in an 4:3 resonance with Hyperion. But the sponge is way to small to affect Titan to any significant degree). Its possibly it used to be in one with Iapetus prior to whatever caused the later to get thrown out to its current position. Something that would explain booth their eccentricities. Its significant size also causes the so called Colombo gap in the rings due being in resonance with a small ringlet embedded inside of it.

* Orbital Period: 550 Days

A small moon that got hit by a big rock at some point and just barely avoiding breaking up. This had led the moon to resemble [[Franchise/StarWars the Death Star]], with a 130-km crater named Herschel that almost exactly corresponds to the fictional space station's laser dish. [[note]]The ''Voyager'' probes discovered the crater three years after the original ''Star Wars'' was released, so whatever the faults of Creator/GeorgeLucas are, plagiarism isn't one of them. At least, [[Film/TheHiddenFortress not this time]].[[/note]] Mimas is also slightly egg-shaped, with the long end pointed toward {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}. Bizarrely, a temperature map produced by NASA showed that the warmer regions of the moon [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329153533.htm looks like Pac-Man]].

Like Mimas, Tethys also has a very big crater called Odysseus, which is 400 km in diameter (or approximately 2/5 of Tethys'). It is much shallower than Mimas's Herschel though. Two smaller, irregular, "Trojan" moons, Telesto and Calypso, also share the same orbit around {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}} as Tethys. Also like Mimas, a thermal map of Tethys shows Pac-Man.

Another mid-size moon with surface features (cracks, troughs, smooth plains, rises and depressions) which seems to indicate past or present tectonic or volcanic activities. Pictures from the ''Voyager'' probes showed wispy white lines that were thought to be frost; Cassini proved them to be cliffs hundreds of meters high. Like Tethys, it also has orbit-mates, or Trojan moons — Helene and Polydeuces are irregular lumps of rock.

The second-largest Saturnian moon. Named after the Wife of Saturn in mythology. The most interesting surface feature of this otherwise heavily-cratered moon is... a large crater, called Tirawa, with bright rays radiating outwards. Perhaps to compensate for general boringness Rhea, like {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}, may have a ring system (the only moon in the Solar System which would). The rings, however, would be very dark and very tenuous.

A small irregular moon (smaller than Mimas) shaped and colored like a sponge. Hyperion is notable for being the only moon in the solar system to have a "chaotic rotation"[[note]]At least until the ''New Horizons'' probe discovered the same happens with four of the five moons of Pluto[[/note]], meaning it lacks poles (no, not the Central European kind, though it lacks those, too[[note]]Even if [[WebComic/{{Polandball}} Poland could into space]], no human has gotten even remotely close to Saturn[[/note]]) or a stable axis of rotation. This essentially makes Hyperion's orientation in space unpredictable. A very hyperactive moon, indeed.

Its surface features are named after solar and lunar deities (e.g. the crater Helios).

!!Yin and Yang OR the Frosted Walnut: Iapetus
[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Iapetus_as_seen_by_the_Cassini_probe_-_20071008_5257.jpg]]

* Diameter: 1,469 km
* Mass: 0.00030 of Earth
* Density: 1.09 g/cm3
* Surface Gravity: 0.02 g
* Semi-major Axis: 3,560,820 km from Saturn
* Orbital Period: 79 Days
* Rotational Period: 79 Days (Tidally Locked)
* Axial Tilt: 17.28° to Ecliptic Plane, 15.47° to Saturn's Equator (26.73°), 8.13° to Laplace Plane
* Average Surface Temperature: -163° C
* Notable Features: Equatorial Ridge, Cassini Regio, Engelier Crater

Phoebe was the first moon to be discovered photographically (in 1898) and was the outermost of {{UsefulNotes/Saturn}}'s known moons until more were discovered in the 2000s (it's now considered a member of the "Norse group" of irregular satellites). Its main claim to fame is its retrograde orbit and very low albedo, and it was long thought to be a captured asteroid. Recent evidence points to it being a captured "centaur" (a Kuiper belt object pulled in from its normal stomping grounds out by Pluto by the permutations of the gas giants).

Its surface features (apart from Herschel) are named after people and places from the legend of Myth/KingArthur (Avalon Chasma, the crater Galahad, etc.).