Narvi or Saturn XXXI is a

natural satellite A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

of Saturn. It was discovered by a team of astronomers led by

Scott S. Sheppard Scott Sander Sheppard (born 1977) is an American astronomer and a discoverer of numerous moons, comets and minor planets in the outer Solar System. He is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Scie ...

in 2003, and given the temporary designation S/2003 S 1.

Description

Narvi is about 7 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19,371,000 km in 1006.541 days, at an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 136.8° to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...

(109° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.2990, very similar to Bestla's orbit. Narvi's rotation period is hours, and its

light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular frequ ...

has three minima like

Siarnaq Siarnaq, also designated Saturn XXIX, is the second-largest irregular moon of Saturn. It was discovered on 23 September 2000 by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman. It was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, Siarnaq, who is more ...

and

Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (, ), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writ ...

. Unlike the other triangular moons, however, one minimum is much higher than the others, and the maximum that is a half-period ahead is much lower.

Naming

It was named in January 2005 after

Narfi Narfi (Old Norse: ), also Nörfi (O.N.: ), Nari or Nörr (O.N.: ), is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Nótt, the personified night. Name The Old Norse name ''Nǫrr'' has been related to the Old Saxon ('night'), a name whic ...

, a giant in Norse mythology. The name was approved by the IAU Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature on 21 January 2005.

References

External links

IAUWorking Group for Planetary System Nomenclature

April 11, 2003 (discovery)

April 8, 2003 (discovery and ephemeris)

January 21, 2005 (naming the moon)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narvi (Moon) Norse group Moons of Saturn Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2003 Moons with a retrograde orbit