Telesto (moon)

Telesto

Telesto as seen by the Cassini probe in October 2005
Discovery
Discovered by	Bradford A. Smith Harold Reitsema Stephen M. Larson John W. Fountain
Discovery date	April 8, 1980
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis	294619 km
Eccentricity	0.000
Orbital period	1.887802 d
Inclination	1.19° (to Saturn's equator)
Satellite of	Saturn
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	32.6 × 23.6 × 20.0 km
Mean radius	12.4±0.4 km
Rotation period	synchronous
Axial tilt	zero
Apparent magnitude	18.7

Telesto (/tᵻˈlɛstoʊ/ tə-LES-toh, Greek: Τελεστώ) is a moon of Saturn. It was discovered by Smith, Reitsema, Larson and Fountain in 1980 from ground-based observations, and was provisionally designated S/1980 S 13. In the following months, several other apparitions were observed: S/1980 S 24, S/1980 S 33, and S/1981 S 1.

In 1983 it was officially named after Telesto of Greek mythology. It is also designated as Saturn XIII (13) or Tethys B.

Telesto is co-orbital with Tethys, residing in Tethys' leading Lagrangian point (L₄). This relationship was first identified by Seidelmann et al. in 1981. Another moon, Calypso, resides in the other (trailing) Lagrangian point of Tethys, 60 degrees in the other direction from Tethys. The Saturnian system has two additional trojan moons.

Exploration

The Cassini probe performed a distant flyby of Telesto on October 11, 2005. The resulting images show that its surface is surprisingly smooth, devoid of small impact craters.

External links

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More spoken articles

• Telesto Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• The Planetary Society: Telesto