Atlas, the second of Saturn's known satellites, orbits near the outer edge of the A-ring and is about 40 by 20 kilometers (25 by 15 miles) in size. It is probably a shepherd satellite for Saturn's A-ring. Atlas was discovered by R. Terrile in 1980 from photographs taken by Voyager during its encounter with Saturn.
| Atlas Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | R. Terrile |
| Date of discovery | 1980 |
| Mass (kg) | ? |
| Radius (km) | 20x15 |
| Radius (Earth = 1) | 3.1358e-03 |
| Mean density (gm/cm^3) | ? |
| Mean distance from Saturn (km) | 137,640 |
| Rotational period (days) | ? |
| Orbital period (days) | 0.6019 |
| Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) | 16.63 |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0.000 |
| Orbital inclination (degrees) | 0.0 |
| Visual geometric albedo | 0.9 |
| Magnitude (Vo) | 18.0 |
| Views of Atlas |
|---|
Atlas
This image of Atlas was acquired by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on
November 12, 1980.
(Credit: Calvin J. Hamilton)
Copyright © 1997 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.
Saturn
Pan
Prometheus