Aegaeon (moon)

Three images of the bright arc of the G Ring with Aegaeon embedded within it, taken over the course of ten minutes

Aegaeon (Template:Pron-en ee-JEE-ən, or as Greek Αιγαίων), also Saturn LIII (provisional designation S/2008 S 1), is a natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Carolyn Porco of the Cassini Imaging Science Team on March 3, 2009, from observations taken on August 15, 2008.

Aegaeon orbits within the bright segment of Saturn's G Ring, and is likely a major source of the ring. Debris knocked off the moon forms a bright arc near the inner edge, which in turn spreads to form the rest of the ring. Aegaeon orbits in a 7:6 resonance with Mimas, which causes a ≈ 4-year oscillation of ≈ 4 km in its semi-major axis. Assuming it has the same albedo as Pallene, it is estimated to be half a kilometer in diameter. It orbits Saturn at an average distance of 167,500 km in 0.80812 days, at an inclination of 0.001° to Saturn's equator, with an eccentricity of 0.0002.

It is named after Aegaeon, one of the hecatonchires.