Hati (moon) facts for kids

Hati (also called Saturn XLIII) is a small moon that goes around the planet Saturn. It was first called S/2004 S 14 when it was found.

Discovery of Hati

Scientists Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden announced that they had found Hati on May 4, 2005. They saw the moon in their telescopes between December 12, 2004, and March 11, 2005.

Hati's Size and Orbit

Hati is quite small, only about 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) wide. It travels around Saturn very far away, at an average distance of about 20,303,000 kilometers (about 12.6 million miles). It takes Hati a long time to complete one trip around Saturn – about 1080 days, which is almost three years!

Hati's path around Saturn is also quite tilted. This tilt, called its inclination, is about 163 degrees compared to the ecliptic (the flat path most planets follow around the Sun). This means Hati orbits Saturn almost "backwards" compared to many other moons. Its orbit is also not a perfect circle; it's a bit stretched out, which scientists call having an eccentricity of 0.291.

How Hati Got Its Name

In April 2007, this moon was officially named Hati. The name comes from Hati, a giant wolf in Norse mythology. Hati is known as the son of Fenrisulfr and the twin brother of Skoll. In these old stories, Hati chases the Moon across the sky.

See also

In Spanish: Hati (satélite) para niños