Surtur (moon) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Surtur is a small moon that goes around the planet Saturn. It's also known as Saturn XLVIII or S/2006 S 7. This moon was found by a team of scientists: Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden. They first spotted it on June 26, 2006.

About Surtur

Surtur is quite small, only about 6 kilometers across. It travels around Saturn very far away, at an average distance of about 22,243,600 kilometers. It takes Surtur a long time to complete one trip around Saturn – about 1238.575 days, which is more than three years!

Surtur's Orbit

Surtur's path around Saturn is not a perfect circle; it's a bit stretched out, which scientists call an eccentric orbit. Its eccentricity is 0.3680. The moon's orbit is also tilted quite a bit compared to Saturn's equator, with an inclination of 148.9 degrees.

How Surtur Got Its Name

Surtur was officially named in April 2007. It got its name from Surtr, a powerful leader of the fire giants in old Norse mythology.

All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:

Surtur (moon) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.