Mysterious missing moons?

[vogon13]

My old copy of the book Saturn by Hunt and Moore, lists tentative information on 2 satellites of the planet Saturn that don't seem to be 'in the cards' any more.<br /><br />Object 1, ID'ed by Synnott and Terrile, was believed to orbit just interior to Rhea's orbit at 470,000 kilometers.<br /><br />Object 2, ID'ed by Synnott, is shown with an orbit just interior to that of Dione, at 350,000 kilometers.<br /><br />Only object 2 has an estimate of a diameter at ~15 kilometers.<br /><br />I am assuming ground based observations (and maybe Hubble) never confirmed these two objects, but I am curious if Cassini has imaged possible locations for them?<br /><br />Such objects may be related (formational scenario wise) to Methone and Pallene, hence my interest.<br /><br />Anyone have the scoop on these two little guys?<br /><br /><br />{btw, there might be a third one near object 2, but the ref'd book has even less info on it}<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

It isn't uncommon for such sightings to go unconfirmed. They're difficult to spot, so it's easy to make mistakes. They may not be actual satellites. Or, they may be known satellites -- many of Saturn's small moons have somewhat chaotic orbits, making it very difficult or even impossible to predict when and where they will be seen again. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>