Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
22 km
Mass
8.2 × 10¹⁵ kg
1.1e-07 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
15,200,000 km
Orbital period
686.9 Earth days
Discovery year
2000
Discoverer
Brett J. Gladman et al.
Naming origin
Inuit fictional giant
Surface conditions
Paaliaq is a small Inuit-group prograde irregular moon, discovered in the 2000 wide-field outer-moon surveys at Mauna Kea.
Missions and observations
Every Saturn-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Paaliaq. The list below is the Saturn-system mission catalog; specific Paaliaq 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
Paaliaq is a fictional giant in a novel by Inuit author Michael Kusugak. Adopted by the IAU in 2003.
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.