Space · Moons
Daphnis
A moon of Saturn — Creates the Keeler Gap in Saturn's A ring with edge waves like a stone parting a stream.
Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
8 km
Mass
7.7 × 10¹³ kg
1.05e-09 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
136,504 km
Orbital period
0.594 Earth days
Discovery year
2005
Discoverer
Cassini Imaging Science Team
Naming origin
Greek pastoral hero, shepherd
Surface conditions
Daphnis was discovered in 2005 by the Cassini imaging team as the source of the Keeler Gap in Saturn's outer A ring. The moon's gravity creates wavelike disturbances at the gap's inner and outer edges — a striking demonstration of how a tiny body can sculpt ring structure.
Missions and observations
Every Saturn-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Daphnis. The list below is the Saturn-system mission catalog; specific Daphnis 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
Daphnis was a Greek pastoral hero, son of Hermes, said to be the inventor of pastoral poetry. Adopted by the IAU in 2006.
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.