Space Topics: Saturn
Telesto (S/1980 S13)
Running Behind Tethys
Saturn's moon Telesto
This raw image was captured by Cassini during its closest planned encounter with Telesto, on October 11, 2005.
Credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute
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Size: Irregular, 34 x 28 x 36 kilometers
Orbital radius: 294,660 kilometers - 4.89 Saturn radii - within
the E ring - at Tethys’ leading Lagrange point (L4) - co-orbital with
Tethys and Calypso
Orbital period: 1.8878 days - about 1/8 of Titan’s
Discovery: 1980
by Brad Smith, Harold Reitsema, Stephen Larson, John Fountain
Telesto is a tiny moon that orbits in Tethys' leading Lagrange point (L4).
That is, Telesto orbits Saturn on the same circular path that Tethys does,
but ahead of Tethys, and the centers of Tethys, Saturn, and Telesto form
an equilateral triangle.
Flybys of Telesto
N00041270 to N00041289
19,676 km
CL1 and CL2 filters
Observation included 20 frames: 3@CL, UV1, UV3, GRN, IR1, IR3, IR4, (UV3,GRN)
x (P0,P60,P120), BL1, RED, 3@CL
Source:
NASA / JPL / SSI
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N00041297
10,424
km
CL1 and CL2 filters
Observation included 8 clear frames
Source:
NASA / JPL / SSI
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Cassini
October 11, 2005 at 20:26 UTC
“16TL” nontargeted flyby
Closest approach altitude 9,524 kilometers
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