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Gallic group

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

An animation showing the movement of Saturn's Gallic group of moons in space.

The Gallic group is a special group of moons that orbit the planet Saturn. These moons are called irregular satellites because their paths around Saturn are not perfectly circular or in the same direction as Saturn’s rotation. Scientists think these moons came from a single captured asteroid that crashed into pieces a long time ago. Because of this shared history, they are considered a collisional family.

Animation of Saturn's Gallic group of satellites   Saturn    Albiorix  ·    Bebhionn  ·    Erriapus  ·    Tarvos

Most moons in the Gallic group move in similar paths around Saturn, but one moon, called S/2004 S 24, has a very different path. Because of this, it is not clear if this moon came from the same original asteroid as the others.

The names given to moons in the Gallic group come from stories in Gallic mythology. Right now, only four of these moons have official names, but scientists continue to study them to learn more about their past and how they moved around Saturn.

Characteristics

Scientists noticed that the moons in this group have similar paths around Saturn, suggesting they came from the same big object that broke apart. These moons share a special reddish color and similar patterns in the heat they give off.

The biggest moon in the group, Albiorix, shows two different colors. Some experts think that two other moons, Erriapus and Tarvos, might be pieces that broke off from Albiorix after a big crash. This kind of crash happens sometimes, as shown by large marks found on another moon called Phoebe.

Most of these moons stay between 16 and 19 million kilometers from Saturn, tilt between 36° and 41° compared to Saturn’s path, and their paths are not perfectly round. In October 2019, scientists using the Subaru Telescope found 20 new moons around Saturn, including one called S/2004 S 24. This moon is like the others but orbits much farther out. It will also get a name from ancient Gallic stories.

List

The group has 19 members, listed in the order they were announced.

NameDiameter (km)Semi-Major Axis (km)Period (days)Subgroup
Tarvos1618215600926.43Albiorix
Erriapus1217507000871.09Albiorix
Albiorix28.616329100783.46Albiorix
Bebhionn717027200834.85Albiorix
S/2004 S 243233390001341.34Outlier
S/2004 S 29517064100837.78Albiorix
S/2020 S 4318236000926.96Albiorix
S/2006 S 124195698001035.06Albiorix
S/2007 S 8417049000836.90Albiorix
S/2005 S 7318502500939.75Albiorix
S/2007 S 11417434400859.53Albiorix
S/2019 S 29317353900853.62Albiorix
S/2019 S 31317739100882.24Albiorix
S/2019 S 34318446800935.45Albiorix
S/2020 S 15316729200807.82Albiorix
S/2023 S 17317385300855.94Albiorix
S/2023 S 18317381700855.65Albiorix
S/2023 S 54317485100863.35Albiorix
S/2023 S 55316875100818.51Albiorix

Images

The Crab Nebula: A colorful remnant of a star explosion, showing glowing gas clouds in space.
A stunning view of Earth rising over the lunar horizon, captured by astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
A colorful educational montage showing the planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth with its Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Each planet is shown to scale relative to others in its group.
An artist's rendering of HE 1523-0901, one of the oldest known stars in our galaxy, located about 7,500 light-years from Earth.

Related articles

S/2004 S 24
Saturn
Collisional family
Celtic mythology
Albiorix (moon)
Erriapus

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Gallic group, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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