SATURN'S GOLDEN AGE DANCE ACADEMY

Saturn was once known as ‘ father of gods’, 766 times larger than Earth and taking 29.46 years to slowly drag himself around the Sun, but since Galileo took a peep with his new telescope in 1610 we’ve had to change our ideas.  Saturn seemed to be surrounded by moons until Christiaan Huygens found in 1656 that it was really a complex ring system, making the old fella the ‘star attraction’ in the golden age sky.
  

We now know that old man Saturn is not so slow – he simply has a long path to travel, and his moon entourage is so complex that astronomers are….umm, dumb-struck! Rather than being just a big planet surrounded by rock and ice, he actually seems to be operating his own very successful dance academy with billions of students and only about 53 named by us!

But was Galileo so wrong? Countless dancers -ranging from a speck to the size of a house - are performing nicely in a neat whirl 270,000 km wide, while other couples do their own thing in perfect synchrony.  Lone dancers practise, while some like Iapetus in a stunning black and white outfit, keep to the edge of the floor, with Phoebe daring to orbit in reverse.

Let’s meet some dashing couples with unique personalities:

Mimas bravely pairs with 3 times larger Tethys, who is chaperoned by the tiny twins: Telesto and Calypso.

Gigantic, youthful Titan with his own toxic atmosphere, is gallantly teaching tiny and chaotically hyperactive Hyperion the waltz.

Volcanic Enceladus has taken a partner, Dione, more than twice his size.

So what sort of a dance is it?  ‘Orbital Period Resonance’ with a variety of timings and at least one of the dance partners must face the master at all times - of course!

What about the dance-master himself? 
Light on his feet (lighter than water) what a ball of energy Saturn is, radiating 2½ times the energy received but stormy at times with winds up to 1800 kmh.  He’s charismatic with gravity and a strong magnetic field but don’t get too close!...his body odour is methane and ammonia.  Not to be outdone by big boy Jupiter, Saturn even shows a Great White Spot every 30 years and pirouettes at more than 37,000 kmh, making him wider than he’s tall! 

Oh…we mustn’t miss the dancing darlings - Epimetheus and Janus  - juniors who switch (yes, switch) orbit every 4 years!

If Saturn is just ‘another ordinary planet from a random chance event’ where did all these unique moons come from, with their marvellous dance movements?

 

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                       wikipedia.com                                                                                                                                                                              Britannica 2001

Image credit: envazhi.com