Tethys (moon) facts for kids
Tethys (say it like TEE-this) is one of the many large moons that orbit the planet Saturn. It's a fascinating world in our solar system!
Contents
Discovering Tethys
A long time ago, in 1684, an astronomer named Giovanni Domenico Cassini found Tethys. It was one of the very first moons ever seen orbiting Saturn!
What Tethys is Like
Tethys is a icy moon. It has a lot of craters, which are like big bowls made by impacts from space rocks.
Size and Weight
Tethys is quite large, but it's not very heavy for its size. It's mostly made of ice, which is lighter than rock. Its density is about 0.973 grams per cubic centimeter. This means it's less dense than water!
Giant Craters and Valleys
Tethys has some amazing features on its surface. One of the biggest is a huge crater called Odysseus. It's named after a famous Greek warrior king from ancient stories. This crater is so big it takes up a large part of the moon!
There's also a very long valley named Ithaca Chasma. Imagine a canyon that's 100 km wide and stretches for 2,000 km! That's like going from one side of a country to another.
How Tethys Moves
Tethys takes about 45.3 hours to orbit (go around) Saturn. It orbits Saturn from about 294,660 km away.
Just like our Moon always shows the same face to Earth, Tethys is tidally locked with Saturn. This means one side of Tethys always faces its parent planet.
Images for kids
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Tethys basemap (the trailing side is on the right)
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Tethys as seen by the Cassini spacecraft in 2015.
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Tethys – showing mysterious Red Arcs (2015).
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A Cassini view of the side of Tethys that faces Saturn. You can see the giant rift Ithaca Chasma and the crater Telemachus.
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The huge, shallow crater Odysseus is at the top of this image.
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An animation showing Tethys rotating.
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Tethys close to Saturn (2015).
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The different mapped areas (quadrangles) of Tethys.
See also
In Spanish: Tetis (satélite) para niños
