OTHER POSSIBLE INNER SMALL SATELLITES OF SATURN

Left, Epimetheus and right, S/1995 S 3, an enigmatic satellite (appearing and disappearing!)

Credit : Amanda S. Bosh (Lowell Observatory),Andrew S. Rivkin (Lowell Observatory and University of Arizona/Lunar Planetary Lab), High Speed Photometer Instrument Definition Team (R.C. Bless, PI),and NASA.

The spacecraft Cassini will solve the problem ten years after these observations by showing "temporary" satellite. Cassini will also discover new satellites S/2004 S1 & S2 (S-32 and S-33 Methoni Pallene), S/2005 S1 (S-35 Daphnis). In 2009,the closest satellite of Saturn ever seen (117 000 km of the planet) was discovered on Cassini images: S/2009 S1. Its diameter is about 300 meters.

Satellites in the following table come from an analysis of Voyager 2 images but remain to be confirmed.

Designation	distance to Saturn
S/1981 S 7	?
S/1981 S 10	?
S/1981 S 11	?
S/1981 S 14	200 000 km
S/1981 S 15	174 000 km
S/1981 S 16	220 000 km
S/1981 S 17	231 000 km
S/1981 S 18	185 000 km
S/1981 S 19	186 000 km

July 26, 1995, Amanda Bosh, from Lowell Observatory, announced the discovery of two and perhaps four new satellites of Saturn. This discovery was based on images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope May 22, 1995.

Designation	distance to Saturn
S/1995 S 1	137 450 km
S/1995 S 2	139 700 km
S/1995 S 3	141 050 km
S/1995 S 4	146 450 km

On 10 August 1995, a picture made at ESO with adaptive optics reveals a new satellite whose characteristics are :

Designation	distance to Saturn	Magnitude band K	Period
S/1995 S6	140 210 km	14.9	14h 50m

This satellite was observed by the HST shortly afterwards, but remained an enigma.