Farbauti (moon) facts for kids

Farbauti (also called Saturn XL or S/2004 S 9) is one of the many moons that orbit the planet Saturn. It's a small, icy world, much like many other moons in our solar system. Scientists discovered Farbauti in 2004, and it helps us learn more about Saturn and how its moons formed.

Discovery of Farbauti

Farbauti was first spotted by a team of astronomers: Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, and Jan Kleyna. They found it on December 12, 2004. They used a powerful telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii to make this discovery. Farbauti was the 40th moon found orbiting Saturn at that time. The public learned about its discovery on May 4, 2005.

Size and Orbit

Farbauti is quite small, only about 5 kilometers wide. To give you an idea, that's roughly the length of 50 football fields! It orbits very far from Saturn, about 20,291,000 kilometers away. Because it's so far out, Farbauti takes a long time to complete one trip around Saturn. It finishes one full orbit every 1079 days, which is almost three years!

Naming Farbauti

This moon was officially named in April 2007. Its name comes from Norse mythology, which is a collection of stories from ancient Scandinavia. Farbauti is named after a "storm giant" in these myths. He is known as the father of Loki, a famous trickster god. Many of Saturn's moons are named after characters from Norse mythology.