Bestla (moon)

David C. Jewitt, Scott S. Sheppard, January Kleyna, Brian G. Marsden

Bestla ( Saturn XXXIX) is one of the smaller outer moons of the planet Saturn.

Discovery

The discovery of Bestla by David C. Jewitt, Scott S. Sheppard Jan and Brian G. Marsden on Kleyna recordings of 13 December 2004 to 5 March 2005 announced on 3 May 2005. Bestla first received the provisional designation S/2004 S 18 In April 2007, the moon was then after Eisriesin Bestla, the mother of the god Odin, named.

Path data

Bestla orbits Saturn at a retrograde eccentric orbit in about 1083 days or almost exactly 3 years. The orbital eccentricity is 0.521, the orbit is inclined at 145.2 ° to the ecliptic.

Structure and physical data

The diameter of Bestla is estimated at about 7 km. The mean density and the mineralogical composition of the surface is unknown.

Observations by space probes

The angle camera of the Cassini spacecraft observed Bestla in the fall of 2009, three times from about 8 million kilometers away and in September 2012 also three times from about 11.5 million km distance. The synodic rotation period was determined to be 14.6 h.

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