Atlas

Saturn XV - 1980S28

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 ..................................... 0.0°

Visual geometric albedo ................................. 0.9
Magnitude (Vo) ......................................... 18.0

View of Atlas

Atlas (GIF, 4K)
This image of Atlas was acquired by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on November 12, 1980. (Credit: Calvin J. Hamilton)

Saturn Pan Prometheus

Author: Calvin J. Hamilton.