Themis (hypothetical moon)

For the asteroid, see 24 Themis. For other uses, see Themis (disambiguation).

On April 28, 1905,[1][2] William H. Pickering, who had discovered the Saturnian moon Phoebe seven years earlier, announced the discovery of a tenth Saturnian satellite, which he promptly named Themis after the Greek goddess of divine law and order. The thirteen photographic plates on which it supposedly appeared spanned a period between April 17 and July 8, 1904. No other astronomer ever confirmed Pickering's claim.

Pickering attempted to compute an orbit, which showed a fairly high inclination (39.1° to the ecliptic), fairly large eccentricity (0.23) and a semi-major axis (1,457,000 kilometres (905,000 mi)) slightly less than that of Hyperion. The period was supposedly 20.85 days, with prograde motion.

Pickering estimated Themis' diameter at 38 miles[2]: 176  (61 km), based on his assumptions that Themis' albedo was the same as Titan's, and that Titan's diameter was about 2300 miles.[2] Today, Titan's diameter is known to be closer to 3200 miles.[3] The same assumptions led him to a diameter of 42 miles[2]: 176  (68 km) for Phoebe, far less than Phoebe's true diameter of roughly 132 miles[4] (213 km).

Two possible orbits for Themis, as calculated by W. H. Pickering.[5]: 91 

In April 1861, Hermann Goldschmidt had also believed that he had discovered a new satellite of Saturn between Titan and Hyperion, which he called Chiron. It does not exist, though the name was used much later for the comet/asteroid 2060 Chiron.

Pickering was awarded the Lalande Prize of the French Academy of Sciences in 1906 for his "discovery of the ninth and tenth satellites of Saturn".

The actual tenth satellite of Saturn (in order of discovery) was Janus, which was discovered in 1966 and confirmed in 1980.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ECPAnnounce was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference WHP1905 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Titan | Saturn's Largest Moon & Its Atmosphere | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-01-13. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  4. ^ "Phoebe - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHP1908 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Janus - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2024-02-01.