Iapetus is a moon of Saturn. With an estimated diameter of 1,469 km, it is the third-largest moon of Saturn and the eleventh-largest in the Solar System. Named after the Titan Iapetus, the moon was discovered in 1671 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets only tens of meters across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. There are 146 moons with confirmed orbits, the most of any planet in the solar system. This number does not include the many thousands of moonlets embedded within Saturn's dense rings, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized distant moons that were seen through telescopes but not recaptured. Seven Saturnian moons are large enough to have collapsed into a relaxed, ellipsoidal shape, though only one or two of those, Titan and possibly Rhea, are currently in hydrostatic equilibrium. Three moons are particularly notable. Titan is the second-largest moon in the Solar System, with a nitrogen-rich Earth-like atmosphere and a landscape featuring river networks and hydrocarbon lakes. Enceladus emits jets of ice from its south-polar region and is covered in a deep layer of snow. Iapetus has contrasting black and white hemispheres as well as an extensive ridge of equatorial mountains among the tallest in the solar system.
Xanadu is a highly reflective area on the leading hemisphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Its name comes from an alternate transcription of Shangdu, the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty established by Kublai Khan and made famous by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
In planetary geology, an albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness (albedo) with adjacent areas.
On April 28, 1905, William H. Pickering, who had discovered the Saturnian moon Phoebe seven years earlier, announced the discovery of a tenth Saturnian satellite, which he promptly named Themis after the Greek goddess of divine law and order. The thirteen photographic plates on which it supposedly appeared spanned a period between April 17 and July 8, 1904. No other astronomer ever confirmed Pickering's claim.
Shangri-La is a large, dark region of Saturn's moon Titan at 10°S165°W. It is named after Shangri-La, the mythical paradise in Tibet.
Guabonito is a ring of bright features on Saturn's moon Titan. Currently, the feature is thought to be a partially buried impact crater, with the bright features representing the crater's rim.
174567 Varda (provisional designation 2003 MW12) is a binary trans-Neptunian planetoid of the resonant hot classical population of the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. Its moon, Ilmarë, was discovered in 2009.
Salacia is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, approximately 850 km (530 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 2004, by American astronomers Henry Roe, Michael Brown and Kristina Barkume at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. Salacia orbits the Sun at an average distance that is slightly greater than that of Pluto. It was named after the Roman goddess Salacia and has a single known moon, Actaea.
Lakes of liquid ethane and methane exist on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was confirmed by the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as had been suspected since the 1980s. The large bodies of liquid are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacūs (lakes).
(55638) 2002 VE95 (provisional designation 2002 VE95) is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 14 November 2002, by astronomers with the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. This resonant trans-Neptunian object is a member of the plutino population, locked in a 2:3 resonance with Neptune. The object is likely of primordial origin with a heterogeneous surface and a notably reddish color (RR) attributed to the presence of methanol and tholins. It has a poorly defined rotation period of 6.8 hours and measures approximately 250 kilometers (160 miles) in diameter, too small to be a dwarf planet candidate. As of 2021, it has not yet been named.
Dilmun is a region of high albedo on Titan, Saturn's natural satellite.
Actaea, officially (120347)Salacia I Actaea, is a natural satellite of the classical Kuiper belt planetoid 120347 Salacia. Its diameter is estimated 300 km (190 mi), which is approximately one-third the diameter of Salacia; thus, Salacia and Actaea are viewed by William Grundy et al. to be a binary system. Assuming that the following size estimates are correct, Actaea is about the sixth-biggest known moon of a trans-Neptunian object, after Charon (1212 km), Dysnomia (700 km), Vanth (443 km), Ilmarë (326 km) and Hiʻiaka (320 km), but possibly also Hiisi.
The Irensaga Montes is a range of mountains on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. The range is located near Titan's equator, between 5-6° south and 210-214° east. It is located within the Adiri region, just west of the landing site of the Huygens probe.
The Mindolluin Montes are a range of mountains on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. The range is located near Titan's equator, between 1-4° south and 205-213° east. It is located within the Adiri region, just west of the landing site of the Huygens probe.
The Taniquetil Montes are a range of mountains on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. The range is located near Titan's equator, between 2-4° south and 211-214° west. It is located within the Adiri region, just west of the landing site of the Huygens probe.
Mezzoramia is a dark albedo feature (region) located at 70°S0°W on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn. It is named after Mezzoramia, a mythical African oasis of happiness from Italian legend.
