Bergelmir (moon)

Bergelmir (pronEng|ˌbɛrˈjɛlmɪr "berr-YEL-mirr)" or Saturn XXXVIII (provisional designation S/2004 S 15) is a natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on May 4, 2005, from observations taken between December 12, 2004, and March 9, 2005.

Bergelmir is about 6 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19,372 Mm in 1006.659 days, at an inclination of 157° to the ecliptic (134° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.152.

It was named in April 2007 after Bergelmir, a giant from Norse mythology and the grandson of Ymir, the primordial giant. Bergelmir and his wife alone among their kind were the only survivors of the enormous deluge of blood from Ymir's wounds when he was killed by Odin and his brothers at the dawn of time. Bergelmir then became the progenitor of a new race of giants.

References

* [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/satsatdata.html Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data]
* [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/saturn2005.html Jewitt's New Satellites of Saturn page]
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/08500/08523.html IAUC 8523: "New Satellites of Saturn"] May 4 2005 (discovery)
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K05/K05J13.html MPEC 2005-J13: "Twelve New Satellites of Saturn"] May 3 2005 (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)

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