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Siarnaq
Composite of three images taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2013, showing Siarnaq's location at ten-minute intervals[a]
Discovery[1][2][3]
Discovered byBrett J. Gladman et al.[b]
Discovery siteMauna Kea Obs.
Discovery date23 September 2000
Designations
Designation
Saturn XXIX
Pronunciation/ˈsiːɑːrnɑːk/
Named after
Siarnaq (Inuit mythology)
S/2000 S 3
AdjectivesSiarnaupian, Siarnaqian[c]
Orbital characteristics[4][5]
Epoch 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5)
0.1187382 AU (17,763,000 km)
Eccentricity0.5293834
+2.42 yr (+883.87 d)
35.08520°
Inclination43.80073° (to ecliptic)
40.96116°
79.59603°
Satellite ofSaturn
GroupInuit group (Siarnaq)
Physical characteristics
39.3±5.9 km[6]
10.18785±0.00005 h[7][8]
98°±15°[8]
−23°±15°[8]
Albedo0.050±0.017[6]
Spectral type
D (reddish)[9]
B−V=0.87±0.01[9]
V−R=0.48±0.01
V−I=1.03±0.01
20.1 (visible)[10][11]
10.9±0.05[6]

Siarnaq, also designated Saturn XXIX, is the second-largest irregular moon of Saturn. It was discovered on 23 September 2000 by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman. It was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, Siarnaq, who is more commonly known as Sedna. Siarnaq is the largest member of Saturn's Inuit group of prograde irregular moons, which orbit far from Saturn in the same direction as the planet's rotation. The moons of the Inuit group are believed to have originated as fragments from the collisional breakup of a larger progenitor moon after it was gravitationally captured into orbit around Saturn several billion years ago.[12][13] Several other small Inuit group moons share similar orbits to Siarnaq, indicating that the moon had experienced another collision after forming from its progenitor.[12]

Discovery

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Discovery images of Siarnaq taken by the CFHT in September 2000

Siarnaq was discovered on 23 September 2000, by an international team of astronomers consisting of Brett J. Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Phil Nicholson and Joseph A. Burns.[2] The discovery of Siarnaq formed part of an observational campaign to search for distant irregular satellites around Saturn. The campaign was coordinated by Gladman in late 2000 using various ground-based telescopes equipped with sensitive CCD cameras to survey Saturn's Hill sphere, the region within which satellites can have stable orbits around the planet.[14][15]

In September 2000, Gladman and collaborators conducted a wide-area survey around Saturn down to a R-band limiting magnitude of 24.5 with the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii.[16] They reobserved their previous irregular satellite discoveries from August 2000 (Ymir and Paaliaq) and identified two new irregular satellite candidates: Siarnaq and Tarvos.[17] Siarnaq, the brighter of the two, was detected at an apparent magnitude of 20.[3]

Follow-up and confirmation

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Offset plot showing the positions and ephemerides of 13 irregular satellites relative to Saturn in 2001. Siarnaq (S/2000 S 3) is located at the upper left from the center.

Between 25–29 September 2000, follow-up observations of Siarnaq and other newly-discovered Saturnian irregular satellites were made at various observatories.[18] Preliminary orbit calculations ruled out the possibility that the satellites could be foreground asteroids and confirmed they were indeed orbiting Saturn.[17] The discovery of Ymir, Paaliaq, Siarnaq, and Tarvos were formally reported by the International Astronomical Union on 25 October 2000[3][19] and announced by Gladman's team a day later at a meeting hosted by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.[15] The discovery of the four satellites raised Saturn's known moons to 22, surpassing Uranus's moon count of 21 at the time.[17]

Although Siarnaq was confirmed as a satellite, the orbit was poorly known due to an insufficient number of observations.[20] The moon was reobserved by the Kitt Peak National Observatory in December 2000,[21] and later by the Palomar and La Palma observatories in early 2001.[18] In the interim, Gladman's team had discovered eight more irregular satellites of Saturn, raising the planet's number of known moons to 30 and resultingly overtaking Jupiter as the planet with the most known moons until 2003.[14][22]

Name

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The moon is named after Siarnaq, the Inuit sea giantess or goddess and ruler of the Inuit underworld Adlivun.[23] In other variants of Inuit legend, she is also known by other names such as Nuliajuk and Sedna. Siarnaq is said to reside at the bottom of the ocean and to have conceived all sea life, which she will withhold from Inuit hunters when angered. In some versions of Inuit legend, Siarnaq was once a beautiful maiden who was tricked into marrying a bird-man and then was rescued by her father. They came under attack by a storm, which provoked the desperate father to sacrifice her to the sea in order to save himself.[24][25]

The moon received its name in a formal notice published by the IAU on 8 August 2003, one month after its approval by the IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature in a general assembly held in July 2003.[24] Siarnaq was also assigned the Roman numeral designation Saturn XXIX, the 29th moon of Saturn.[26]

Background

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Before Siarnaq was given its name, it was formerly known by the provisional designation S/2000 S 3 assigned by the IAU in the discovery announcement.[d] The provisional designation indicates that it was the third Saturnian satellite identified in images taken in 2000.[3] Siarnaq is among the first Saturnian irregular satellites discovered since Phoebe in 1898; the discovery of new satellite groups of Saturn provided the opportunity for their discoverers to establish new naming conventions for each of them.[14][24]

Kavelaars was advised by his colleagues to deviate from the traditional Greco-Roman mythology theme for Saturnian moons and instead propose names from different cultures. Throughout late 2000, Kavelaars spent several months consulting Amerindian scholars for appropriate name suggestions that were both multicultural and Canadian in origin. In March 2001, he was reading the Inuit tale Hide and Sneak to his children and had a revelation. He contacted the author of the tale, Michael Kusugak, to get his assent, and the latter suggested the names Kiviuq and Sedna.[27][25] Kavelaars then decided that the selected Inuit names should end in the letter q to distinguish the group—hence the name Sedna was changed to Siarnaq.[24] The former name was later used for 90377 Sedna, a distant trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2003.[23]

I sent [Kavelaars] that bit about Siarnaq, or we call her Nuliajuk, that creature that lives under the sea, who's also know [sic] as Sedna. She's got so many names ... sometimes she's simply called the Old Woman Who Lives Down There. Anyway, I was talking about the realm of the shaman in this book, and I said, "And the only person who can go down there and comb her hair and make her feel better is the shaman Paaliaq." And this was just something I made up in my story. So I was really surprised when the final approved list of names of these four moons of Saturn included Paaliaq, because I just made him up. That was fun.

— Michael Kusugak, in a Windspeaker interview[24]

Physical characteristics

[edit]
Cassini images of Siarnaq moving among background stars on 30 December 2013. The moon was observed 22 million km (14 million mi) away from the spacecraft.
3D model created based on lightcurve data

Diameter and albedo

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From infrared observations by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft, Siarnaq is estimated to be 39.3 km (24.4 mi) in diameter.[6]

Surface and color

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Siarnaq is light red in color, and the Siarnaupian (Siarnaqan)[c] spectrum in the infrared is very similar to the Inuit-group satellites Paaliaq and Kiviuq, supporting the thesis of a possible common origin in the break-up of a larger body.[9][28][29]

Observations of Siarnaq at different phase angles show that its brightness stays relatively constant at high phase angles, where it produces a shallow phase curve, but exhibits a strong opposition surge, where it sharply brightens by 0.2 magnitudes at opposition (zero phase).[30]: 14  This phase curve behavior of Siarnaq suggests it has a highly porous surface likely covered with substantial regolith.[30]: 14 

Shape and rotation

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The rotation period of Siarnaq was measured by the Cassini spacecraft to be 10.19 hours; this is the shortest rotation period of all prograde irregular moons of Saturn.[7] Siarnaq displays a light curve with three maxima and minima over a full rotation, implying a roughly triangular shape similar to that of Ymir.[8] From Cassini observations of Siarnaq at different phase angles, the orientation of its north rotational pole has been determined to be pointing toward 98° ecliptic latitude and −23° ecliptic longitude.[e] This corresponds to a sideways axial tilt, indicating that Siarnaq experiences long, extreme seasons similar to the planet Uranus.[8]

Orbit and group

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Siarnaq
Mean orbital elements [31]
Epoch 1 January 2000 12:00 UT (JD 2451545.0)
Semi-major axis17,880,800 km (0.119526 AU)
Eccentricity0.311
Inclination48.2° *
Orbital period+2.45 yr (+895.87 d)
Apsidal precession period567.330 yr
Nodal precession period401.023 yr
Diagram illustrating the orbits of the irregular satellites of Saturn. The inclination and semi-major axis are represented on the Y and X-axis, respectively. The satellites with inclinations below 90° are prograde, those above 90° are retrograde. The X-axis is labeled in terms of Saturn's Hill radius. The prograde Inuit and Gallic groups and the retrograde Norse group are identified.
Animation of Saturn's Inuit group of satellites from 2018–2027
  Kiviuq ·   Ijiraq ·   Paaliaq ·   Siarnaq ·   Tarqeq

Siarnaq orbits Saturn at an average distance of 17.9 million km (11.1 million mi) in 896 days (2.45 years).[4] Due to gravitational perturbations the Sun and other planets, the orbit of Siarnaq varies of time. Over a 200-year period, Siarnaq's semi-major axis fluctuates between 17.5–18.3 million km (10.9–11.4 million mi), eccentricity between 0.089–0.554, and inclination between 41.4°–54.3° with respect to the ecliptic.[32]: 8  The moon is in a temporary secular resonance with Saturn, in which Siarnaq and Saturn have matching apsidal precession periods.[33][34][f] Siarnaq's high orbital eccentricity and inclination places it close to the threshold for Lidov–Kozai resonance.[37]

Siarnaq belongs to Saturn's Inuit group of prograde irregular moons, which have average semi-major axes between 11.2–18.4 million km (7.0–11.4 million mi) and high average inclinations between 45°–50°. The Inuit group is further split into three distinct subgroups at different semi-major axes: the Kiviuq group, the Paaliaq group, and the Siarnaq group.[12] The Siarnaq group is the outermost Inuit subgroup and includes seven known members: Siarnaq, Tarqeq, S/2004 S 31, S/2019 S 14, S/2020 S 3, S/2019 S 6, and S/2020 S 5.[31] Moons in the Inuit group appear to be less abundant at smaller sizes, which implies that the Inuit group has existed long enough for collisions to have destroyed most of the smaller moons.[38]

Notes

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  1. ^ Merger of three images, colored red, green, and blue respectively, to highlight Siarnaq as it moves relative to the background stars.
  2. ^ Brett J. Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Phil Nicholson and Joseph A. Burns.[1][2]
  3. ^ a b The genitive form of Siarnaq is Siarnaup. Thus the adjectival form could be absolutive Siarnaqian or genitive Siarnaupian, parallel to nominative Venusian and genitive Venerian for Venus. See Inuktitut morphology
  4. ^ Gladman's astrometry page for Siarnaq notes that the moon was temporarily given the designation S/2000 S 2 before being renumbered to S 3 in the discovery announcement.[18]
  5. ^ For geocentric equatorial coordinates, the north pole orientation of Siarnaq is RA = 97°±15°, Dec = 0°±15°.[11]
  6. ^ The ecliptic longitudes of the periapsis of the satellite and the planet are locked according to Cuk & Burns (2004),[34] although Nesvorný et al. (2003) find that this locking is only temporary,[33] while Turrini et al. (2008) did not find any evidence of secular resonance in Siarnaq.[35] Siarnaq's secular resonance with Saturn was first reported by Cuk et al. September 2002.[36]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Planetary Satellite Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Marsden, Brian G. (25 October 2000). "IAUC 7513: S/2000 S 3, S/2000 S 4". International Astronomical Union Circular (7513). Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams: 1. Bibcode:2000IAUC.7513....1G. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b "M.P.C. 127090" (PDF). Minor Planet Circular. Minor Planet Center. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Orbital Elements for Siarnaq (SXXIX=2000S3)". Horizons output. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 6 February 2021. ("Ephemeris Type" select "Orbital Elements"  · "Center" Saturn System Barycenter [500@6]  · Set "Time Span" to 2020-Dec-17)
  6. ^ a b c d Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Mainzer, A. K.; Masiero, J. R.; Nugent, C. R.; Cutri, R. M.; et al. (August 2015). "NEOWISE: Observations of the Irregular Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn". The Astrophysical Journal. 809 (1): 9. arXiv:1505.07820. Bibcode:2015ApJ...809....3G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/809/1/3. S2CID 5834661. 3.
  7. ^ a b Denk, Tilmann; Mottola, Stefano (April 2019). Schenk, Paul M.; et al. (eds.). "Studies of irregular satellites: I. Lightcurves and rotation periods of 25 Saturnian moons from Cassini observations". Icarus. 322: 80–102. Bibcode:2019Icar..322...80D. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.040. S2CID 127269198.
  8. ^ a b c d e Denk, Tilmann; Mottola, Stefano; Tosi, Frederico; Bottke, William F.; Hamilton, Douglas P. (2018). "The Irregular Satellites of Saturn" (PDF). In Schenk, P.M.; Clark, R.N.; Howett, C.J.A.; Verbiscer, A.J.; Waite, J.H. (eds.). Enceladus and the Icy Moons of Saturn. Space Science Series. Vol. 322. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press. pp. 409–434. Bibcode:2018eims.book..409D. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816537075-ch020. ISBN 9780816537075.
  9. ^ a b c Grav, Tommy; Bauer, James (November 2007). "A deeper look at the colors of the saturnian irregular satellites". Icarus. 191 (1): 267–285. arXiv:astro-ph/0611590. Bibcode:2007Icar..191..267G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.04.020. S2CID 15710195.
  10. ^ Sheppard, Scott S. "Saturn Moons". Earth & Planets Laboratory. Carnegie Institution for Science. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b Denk, Tilmann (19 May 2023). "Siarnaq (S/2000 S 3)". Tilmann's Web Site. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Sheppard, Scott S.; Gladman, Brett J.; Alexandersen, Mike A.; Trujillo, Chadwick A. (May 2023). "New Jupiter and Saturn Satellites Reveal New Moon Dynamical Families". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (5): 100. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..100S. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acd766. 100.
  13. ^ Bottke, William F.; Nesvorný, David; Vokrouhlický, David; Morbidelli, Alessandro (March 2010). "The Irregular Satellites: The Most Collisionally Evolved Populations in the Solar System". The Astronomical Journal. 139 (3): 994–1014. Bibcode:2010AJ....139..994B. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/139/3/994. S2CID 54075311.
  14. ^ a b c "The Irregular Satellites: Chips Off Older Blocks". Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur. 12 July 2001. Archived from the original on 21 November 2001. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  15. ^ a b Brand, David (26 October 2000). "Satellite-hunters find four new moons of the planet Saturn". Cornell Chronicle. Cornell University. Archived from the original on 11 December 2000. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. ^ Gladman, Brett; Kavelaars, J. J.; Holman, Matthew; Nicholson, Philip D.; Burns, Joseph A.; Hergenrother, Carl W.; et al. (July 2001). "Discovery of 12 satellites of Saturn exhibiting orbital clustering". Nature. 412 (6843): 163–166. Bibcode:2001Natur.412..163G. doi:10.1038/35084032. PMID 11449267. S2CID 4420031.
  17. ^ a b c "Saturn Swarming with Satellites". Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur. 26 October 2000. Archived from the original on 9 December 2000. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  18. ^ a b c Gladman, Brett J. (January 2003). "Known astrometry of S/2000 S 3". Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  19. ^ Marsden, Brian G. (25 October 2000). "IAUC 7512: S/2000 S 1, S/2000 S 2". International Astronomical Union Circular (7512). Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams: 1. Bibcode:2000IAUC.7512....1G. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  20. ^ Marsden, Brian G. (18 November 2000). "IAUC 7521: S/2000 S 5, S/2000 S 6". International Astronomical Union Circular (7521). Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams: 1. Bibcode:2000IAUC.7521....1G. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  21. ^ Marsden, Brian G. (19 December 2000). "MPEC 2000-Y14 : S/2000 S 3, S/2000 S 4, S/2000 S 5, S/2000 S 6, S/2000 S 10". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center.
  22. ^ Hamilton, Douglas P. (12 July 2001). "Saturn saturated with satellites". Nature. 412 (6843): 132–133. Bibcode:2001Natur.412..132H. doi:10.1038/35084310. PMID 11449251. S2CID 4346912.
  23. ^ a b "Siarnaq In Depth". Solar System Exploration. NASA. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  24. ^ a b c d e Petten, Cheryl (2003). "Naming Saturn's moons". Windspeaker. Vol. 21, no. 7. Aboriginal Multi-Media Society. p. 32. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  25. ^ a b Blunck, Jürgen (2010). "Discovering and Naming the Satellites". Solar System Moons: Discovery and Mythology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 59–60. Bibcode:2010ssm..book.....B. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-68853-2. ISBN 978-3-540-68852-5.
  26. ^ Green, Daniel W. E. (8 August 2003). "IAUC 8177: Sats OF (22); Sats OF JUPITER, SATURN, URANUS". International Astronomical Union Circular (8177). Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams: 2. Bibcode:2003IAUC.8177....2G. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  27. ^ Spitzer, Aaron (27 July 2001). "Inuktitut travels to the planets". Nunatsiaq News. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  28. ^ Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J. (April 2004). "Near-Infrared Photometry of the Irregular Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn". The Astrophysical Journal. 605 (2): L141–L144. arXiv:astro-ph/0312571. Bibcode:2004ApJ...605L.141G. doi:10.1086/420881. S2CID 15665146.
  29. ^ Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Asknes, Kaare (November 2003). "Photometric survey of the irregular satellites". Icarus. 166 (1): 33–45. arXiv:astro-ph/0301016. Bibcode:2003Icar..166...33G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2003.07.005. S2CID 7793999.
  30. ^ a b Bauer, James M.; Grav, Tommy; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Hicks, Michael D. (September 2006). "The phase curve survey of the irregular saturnian satellites: A possible method of physical classification". Icarus. 184 (1): 181–197. Bibcode:2006Icar..184..181B. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.04.011. S2CID 54668031.
  31. ^ a b "Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  32. ^ Jacobson, Robert A.; Brozović, Marina; Mastrodemos, Nickolaos; Riedel, Joseph E.; Sheppard, Scott S. (December 2022). "Ephemerides of the Irregular Saturnian Satellites from Earth-based Astrometry and Cassini Imaging". The Astronomical Journal. 164 (6): 10. Bibcode:2022AJ....164..240J. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac98c7. 240.
  33. ^ a b Nesvorný, David; Alvarellos, Jose L. A.; Dones, Luke; Levison, Harold F. (July 2003). "Orbital and Collisional Evolution of the Irregular Satellites". The Astronomical Journal. 126 (1): 398–429. Bibcode:2003AJ....126..398N. doi:10.1086/375461. S2CID 8502734.
  34. ^ a b Ćuk, Matija; Burns, Joseph A. (November 2004). "On the Secular Behavior of Irregular Satellites". The Astronomical Journal. 128 (5): 2518–2541. arXiv:astro-ph/0408119. Bibcode:2004AJ....128.2518C. doi:10.1086/424937. S2CID 18564122.
  35. ^ Turrini, D.; Marzari, F.; Beust, H. (December 2008). "A new perspective on the irregular satellites of Saturn - I. Dynamical and collisional history". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 391 (3): 1029–1051. arXiv:1011.5655. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.391.1029T. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13909.x. S2CID 119217845.
  36. ^ Cuk, M.; Burns, J. A.; Curruba, V.; Nicholson, P. D.; Jacobson, R. A. (September 2002). New Secular Resonances Involving the Irregular Satellies of Saturn. 33rd Division on Dynamical Astronomy Meeting. Vol. 34. American Astronomical Society. p. 943. Bibcode:2002DDA....33.1402C. 14.02.
  37. ^ Beaugé, C.; Nesvorný, D. (June 2007). "Proper Elements and Secular Resonances for Irregular Satellites". The Astronomical Journal. 133 (6): 2537–2558. Bibcode:2007AJ....133.2537B. doi:10.1086/516753. S2CID 123797450.
  38. ^ Ashton, Edward; Gladman, Brett; Beaudoin, Matthew (August 2021). "Evidence for a Recent Collision in Saturn's Irregular Moon Population". The Planetary Science Journal. 2 (4): 12. Bibcode:2021PSJ.....2..158A. doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac0979. S2CID 236974160.
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