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 (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)

Saturn Pan Prometheus

Copyright © 1997 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.