Epimetheus
Epimetheus (Saturn XI, S/1979 S 1) is a one of the inner moons of Saturn. Janus was discovered by Audouin Dollfus on 15 December 1966. Richard Walker saw what was thought to be the same object three days later since it seemed to haave the same orbit around Saturn. After twelve years, it was realized that there were, in fact, two objects co-orbiting the same region of Saturn's space.
Epimetheus shares the same orbit with Janus. When Janus is in a slightly smaller orbit than Epimetheus, Janus gets ahead of Epimetheus and over time catches up from behind. As Epimetheus pulls Janus toward it, Janus speeds up and Epimetheus slows down slightly, and they 'swap orbits'. Then the process reverses. This cycle occurs about every four years.
Epimetheus in Orbiter
Epimetheus was introduced to Orbiter with the release of isaturn.zip in October 2002.
Add-on | Source | Version | Author | Type | Release Date | Compatibility | Wiki article |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Outer Planets 060929 Base | AVSIM | Rolf Keibel Carl Romanik Tony Dunn |
Scenery | 30 September 2006 | Orbiter 2006-P1 | ||
The Outer Planets 050329 Update | AVSIM | 050329 | Rolf Keibel Tony Dunn Carl Romanik |
Scenery | 30 March 2005 | ||
The Outer Planets 050223 Update | O-F Resources | 2005-02-23 | VF2_Rolf | Scenery | 23 February 2005 | ||
The Outer Planets 050125 | AVSIM | 050125 | Rolf Keibel Tony Dunn |
Scenery | 26 January 2005 | Orbiter 2005-P1 | |
Inner Moons of Saturn | AVSIM | Rolf Keibel | Scenery | 15 October 2002 |
See also
Gallery
Epimetheus as seen by the Cassini spacecraft in December 2007,
from Wikimedia Commons
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