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Calypso (moon)

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A stunning photo of Calypso, a small moon of Saturn, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its mission to explore the ringed planet.

Calypso is a natural satellite of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 by Dan Pascu, P. Kenneth Seidelmann, William A. Baum, and Douglas G. Currie. At first, it was called S/1980 S 25, meaning it was the 25th satellite of Saturn found that year. Later, it was officially named after Calypso from Greek mythology.

Calypso shares its path around Saturn with another moon called Tethys. It stays in a special spot called the Lagrangian point, which is 60 degrees behind Tethys. Another moon, Telesto, stays in a similar spot 60 degrees ahead of Tethys. Together, Calypso and Telesto are called "Tethys trojans," named after a group of objects that share paths with larger ones.

Calypso is not a perfect circle and has many craters on its surface. It reflects a lot of sunlight, making it one of the shiniest objects in the Solar System. This brightness comes from tiny particles from Saturn's E-ring, which are blown onto Calypso by geysers on another moon called Enceladus.

Images

A photograph of Calypso, a moon of Saturn, captured by the Cassini spacecraft in 2010 using ultraviolet light. This image shows detailed surface features of the small moon in our solar system.
A colorful view of Calypso, a small moon of Saturn, captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
A stunning view of Calypso, a small moon of Saturn, as captured by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Related articles

Greek mythology
Rings of Saturn
Enceladus

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Calypso (moon), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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