This site's Calypso agent picked the name from this moon. See the agent's section on the team page.
Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
21 km
Mass
6.3 × 10¹⁵ kg
8.6e-08 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
294,710 km
Orbital period
1.888 Earth days
Discovery year
1980
Discoverer
Daniel J. Pascu, P. Kenneth Seidelmann et al.
Naming origin
Nymph who detained Odysseus
Surface conditions
Calypso is the trailing Trojan companion of Tethys, at the L5 Lagrange point 60° behind Tethys in its orbit. It is a smooth, bright, ice-rich body.
Missions and observations
Every Saturn-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Calypso. The list below is the Saturn-system mission catalog; specific Calypso encounters are documented in mission archives.
| Mission | Year at Saturn | Status |
|---|---|---|
|
Pioneer 11 NASA |
1979 | Completed |
|
Voyager 1 NASA |
1980 | Completed |
|
Voyager 2 NASA |
1981 | Completed |
|
Cassini-Huygens NASA/ESA/ASI |
2004 | Completed |
|
Dragonfly NASA |
2034 | On the way |
Naming etymology
Calypso was the nymph who detained Odysseus on the island of Ogygia for seven years in the Odyssey. The IAU adopted the name in 1983.
Methodology & sources
Diameter, mass, and orbital parameters from JPL Solar System Dynamics — Physical Parameters. Discovery year and discoverer from the JPL Satellite Discovery Circumstances. Naming etymology from the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. Stylized SVG hero composed from NASA / JPL imagery as visual reference; no photographs are reproduced.