Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
15 km
Mass
2.3 × 10¹⁵ kg
3.1e-08 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
17,983,000 km
Orbital period
944.2 Earth days
Discovery year
2000
Discoverer
John J. Kavelaars et al.
Naming origin
Gallic god, the great bull
Surface conditions
Tarvos is a small Gallic-group prograde irregular moon, sharing orbital characteristics with Albiorix and Erriapus.
Missions and observations
Every Saturn-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Tarvos. The list below is the Saturn-system mission catalog; specific Tarvos 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
Tarvos Trigaranus ('the bull with three cranes') was a Gallic Celtic deity depicted on the Pillar of the Boatmen in Paris. 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.