Surtur (moon)

Surtur (pronEng|ˈsɝːtɚ "SURR-tər)" or Saturn XLVIII (provisional designation S/2006 S 7) is a natural satellite of Saturn. 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.

Surtur is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 22,243.6 Mm in 1238.575 days, at an inclination of 166.9° to the ecliptic (148.9° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.3680.

It was named in April 2007, after Surtr, leader of the fire giants of Norse mythology.

References

* [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/satsatdata.html Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data]
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/08700/08727.html IAUC 8727: "Satellites of Saturn"] 2006 June 30 (discovery)
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K06/K06M45.html MPEC 2006-M45: "Eight New Satellites of Saturn"] 2006 June 26 (discovery and ephemeris)
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/08800/08826.html IAUC 8826: "Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn"] (subscription-only) 2007 April 5 (Naming the moon)