Tarvos (moon) facts for kids

Tarvos or Saturn XXI is one of the many small, non-round moons that orbit the giant planet Saturn. It was discovered by a team of scientists led by John J. Kavelaars on September 23, 2000. When it was first found, it was given a temporary name: S/2000 S 4. Later, in August 2003, it was officially named Tarvos. This name comes from Gaulish mythology, where Tarvos was a bull god.

Discovering Tarvos

Scientists found Tarvos using powerful telescopes. The discovery was made in 2000 by John J. Kavelaars and his team. They spotted this tiny moon orbiting Saturn, and it was given a special code name, S/2000 S 4, until it received its official name.

About Tarvos

Tarvos is a small moon, only about 15 km (about 9 miles) wide. That's roughly the size of a small city! It's not perfectly round like Earth's Moon; instead, it has an irregular, lumpy shape. Tarvos orbits Saturn quite far away, at an average distance of 18 million kilometers (about 11 million miles). It takes a long time for Tarvos to complete one trip around Saturn – about 926 Earth days, which is more than two and a half years! Its surface is thought to be quite dark, reflecting only about 4% of the sunlight that hits it.

The Gallic Group of Moons

Tarvos is part of a family of Saturn's moons called the Gallic group. These moons are all quite small and have similar orbits and colors. Scientists believe they might have all come from a single, larger moon that broke apart a long time ago. Tarvos, for example, shares a similar orbit and a light-red color with another moon in this group, Albiorix. This suggests that Tarvos might even be a piece that broke off from Albiorix itself.

Images for kids

• 

  Discovery images of Tarvos (circled) taken by the CFHT

See also

In Spanish: Tarvos (satélite) para niños