Key facts
- Category
- Moons
- Object class
- Inner ring moon
- Composition
- Porous water ice and ring material
- Temperature
- 81 K surface
Atlas
40.8 kmmaximum extent
Explore Atlas to scaleVisual creditCassini 2017 / NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / Public domainSource: Wikimedia Commons
Details
Atlas is a small inner moon of Saturn with a broad, smooth equatorial ridge that gives it a flying-saucer shape. The ridge is probably built from ring particles swept up near the edge of Saturn's A ring.
Atlas orbits just beyond Saturn’s A ring and has a broad equatorial ridge that Cassini resolved as a smooth band around a pointier central body. Spectral mapping found ring material on its surface, supporting the interpretation that particles accumulated around the equator. Its unusual shape is a product of the ring environment it orbits in.
Links
- Wikipedia
- Atlas on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Atlas on the scale
Sources
References for Atlas
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Atlas — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Cassini 2017 / NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute, Public domain)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.