Ep.47: Moons of Saturn – Top 6 in Order of Size
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
Today's episode will be on the moons of Saturn, which are an eclectic bunch ranging from big to small with the biggest, the icy Titan having an earth like atmosphere and is likely to have a water ocean beneath its surface. Some even say, that it would be one of the most hospitable places for humans to colonise.
Today’s mnemonic is on the Moons of Saturn – top 6 in order of size.
So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
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.[1][a] This number does not include the many thousands of moonlets embedded within its dense rings, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized distant moons that were seen through telescopes but not recaptured.[3][4][5] 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 (after Jupiter's Ganymede), with a nitrogen-rich Earth-like atmosphere and a landscape featuring river networks and hydrocarbon lakes.[6] Enceladus emits jets of ice from its south-polar region and is covered in a deep layer of snow.[7] Iapetus has contrasting black and white hemispheres as well as an extensive ridge of equatorial mountains among the tallest in the solar system.
Of the known moons, 24 are regular satellites; they have prograde orbits not greatly inclined to Saturn's equatorial plane.[8] They include the seven major satellites, four small moons that exist in a trojan orbit with larger moons, two mutually co-orbital moons, and two moons that act as shepherds of Saturn's narrow F Ring. Two other known regular satellites orbit within gaps in Saturn's rings. The relatively large Hyperion is locked in an orbital resonance with Titan. The remaining regular moons orbit near the outer edge of the dense A Ring, within the diffuse G Ring, and between the major moons Mimas and Enceladus. The regular satellites are traditionally named after Titans and Titanesses or other figures associated with the mythological Saturn.
The remaining 122, with mean diameters ranging from 2 to 213 km (1 to 132 mi), are irregular satellites, whose orbits are much farther from Saturn, have high inclinations, and are mixed between prograde and retrograde. These moons are probably captured minor planets, or fragments from the collisional breakup of such bodies after they were captured, creating collisional families. Saturn is expected to have around 150 irregular satellites larger than 2.8 km (1.7 mi) in diameter, plus many hundreds more that are even smaller. The irregular satellites are classified by their orbital characteristics into the prograde Inuit and Gallic groups and the large retrograde Norse group, and their names are chosen from the corresponding mythologies (with the Gallic group corresponding to Celtic mythology). The sole exception is Phoebe, the ninth moon of Saturn and largest irregular one, discovered at the end of the 19th century; it is part of the Norse group but named for a Greek Titaness.
The rings of Saturn are made up of objects ranging in size from microscopic to moonlets hundreds of meters across, each in its own orbit around Saturn.[9] Thus a precise number of Saturnian moons cannot be given, because there is no objective boundary between the countless small anonymous objects that form Saturn's ring system and the larger objects that have been named as moons. Over 150 moonlets embedded in the rings have been detected by the disturbance they create in the surrounding ring material, though this is thought to be only a small sample of the total population of such objects.[4]
There are 83 designated moons that are still unnamed (as of May 2023); all but one (the designated B-ring moonlet S/2009 S 1) are irregular. (There are many other undesignated ring moonlets.) If named, most of the irregulars will receive names from Gallic, Norse and Inuit mythology based on the orbital group of which they are a member.[10][11]
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Saturn]
Mnemonic
Moons of Saturn – Top 6 in Order of Size Mnemonic – TRI DaTE
(Picture going on a very special throuple (3 people) date on the planet Saturn)
1. Titan
2. Rhea
3. Iapetus
4. Dione
5. Tethys
6. Enceladus
Five Fun Facts
1. Saturn along with Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have rings. However, Saturn’s are particularly salient hence the sobriquet the “Ringed Planet”.
Now just speaking of planets. There was the time when Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto walk into a bar.
After sitting down, Jupiter says: "I'm the biggest planet, give me the biggest beer you have."
Saturn says: "I'm the best-looking planet, give me the fanciest drink you have."
Pluto says: "I know I'm not a planet, but give me a shot!"
2. If Saturn was thrown into a water body it would float! Of all planets, it is the least dense and less dense than water.
3. Galileo Galilei was the first to see Saturn’s rings and that was back in 1610.
4. Saturn has at least 62 moons. Titan is the largest and is only behind Jupiter’s Ganymede as the second largest moon in the solar system.
5. It was British astronomer Sir John Herschel who suggested that the moons take their names from the Titans which were the mythical offspring of the Greek god Cronus. Unfortunately, there were not enough Titan names so they used Roman and Greek mythological characters as well as numerical designation.
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Three Question Quiz
Q.1. Saturn is what numbered planet from the sun?
Q.2. Saturn is a gas giant and it is made up primarily of which two elements that start with H?
Q.3. Saturn’s Moon Titan makes up 96% of the mass orbiting the planet. True or False?
Bonus. Why did astronomers name the planet “Saturn?”
Mnemonic Recap
Moons of Saturn – Top 6 in Order of Size Mnemonic – TRI DaTE
(Picture going on a very special throuple (3 people) date on the planet Saturn)
1. Titan
2. Rhea
3. Iapetus
4. Dione
5. Tethys
6. Enceladus
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. Saturn is what numbered planet from the sun?
A. 6th planet from the sun
Q.2. Saturn is a gas giant and it is made up primarily of which two elements that start with H?
A. Hydrogen & Helium
Q.3. Saturn’s Moon Titan makes up 96% of the mass orbiting the planet. True or False?
A. True, and it is actually larger than the planet Mercury
Bonus. Why did astronomers name the planet “Saturn?”
A. It just had a nice ring to it!
The planet is actually named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter.
Word of the Week
ecliptic
[ ih-klip-tik ]
noun
the great circle formed by the intersection of the plane of the earth's orbit with the celestial sphere; the apparent annual path of the sun in the heavens.
Example
Saturn along with all the other planets, the Sun, and the moon all have an ecliptic plane.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
Website: https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com/
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References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Saturn#Confirmed
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/911/10-things-unsolved-mysteries-of-saturns-moons/