Universe & space

Discovery of Anthe

June 2004

Anthe is a tiny moon of Saturn, found in images taken by the Cassini spacecraft shortly after Methone. It orbits between the moons Mimas and Enceladus, and is one of the Alkyonides, a group named after the daughters of the giant Alkyoneus in Greek mythology. Its orbit is locked in a resonance with Mimas, which means that its position is regularly affected by the larger moon. It is associated with a faint arc of dust in Saturn's system, likely made of material knocked off the moon by meteoroid impacts. It is only about a kilometre or two across, and it was too small to be seen by telescopes before Cassini.

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