Paaliaq (moon)

Brett Gladman et al.

Paaliaq ( Saturn XX) is one of the smaller outer moons of the planet Saturn.

Discovery

The discovery of Paaliaq by a team consisting of Brett Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean -Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew J. Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Philip D. Nicholson, Joseph A. Burns on recordings from August 7 up to 24 September 2000 was announced on 25 October 2000. Paaliaq first received the provisional designation S/2000 S 2 In August 2003, the moon after a fictional character in the book "The Curse of the Shaman " by Michael Kusugak was named.

Path data

Paaliaq orbiting Saturn on an eccentric orbit at an average distance 15.198 million km in about 687 days. The orbital eccentricity is 0.3632, the web is highly inclined with 45.077 ° to the ecliptic, which from Saturn represents the Laplace plane at this distance.

Paaliaq belongs to the Inuit group of Saturn's moons.

Structure and physical data

Paaliaq has a diameter of 19 km. Its density is 2.3 g/m3 compared to the other Saturn moons relatively high. He is probably composed of water ice with a high proportion of silicate rock. He has a very dark surface with an albedo of 0.06, that is, only 6% of the incident sunlight is reflected. With an apparent magnitude of 21.3 m, it is an extremely light faint object.