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Encyclopedia > Themis (moon)


On April 28, 1905, William H. Pickering, who had seven years earlier discovered Phoebe, announced the discovery of a tenth satellite of Saturn, which he promptly named Themis. The photographic plates on which it supposedly appeared, thirteen in all, spanned a period between April 17 and July 8, 1904. However, Pickering was mistaken and Themis does not exist.


Pickering attempted to compute an orbit, which showed a fairly high orbital inclination (39.1° to the ecliptic), fairly large eccentricity (0.23) and a distance (semi-major axis of 1,457,000 km) approximately the same as that of Titan and Hyperion. The period was supposedly 20.85 days, with prograde motion.


Pickering estimated the diameter at 38 miles, but since he also gave 42 miles as the diameter of Phoebe, he was clearly overestimating the albedo; using the modern figure for Phoebe gives Themis a diameter of 200 km.

Two possible orbits for Themis as calculated by W. H. Pickering
Enlarge
Two possible orbits for Themis as calculated by W. H. Pickering

Oddly, in April 1861, Hermann Goldschmidt had also believed that he had discovered a new satellite of Saturn between Titan and Hyperion, which he called Chiron. Chiron also does not exist (however, the name was used much later for the comet/asteroid 2060 Chiron).


Pickering was awarded the Lalande Prize of the French Academy of Sciences in 1906 for his "discovery of the ninth and tenth satellites of Saturn".


The true tenth satellite of Saturn (in order of discovery) was Janus, which was discovered in 1966 and confirmed in 1980. Its orbit is far from the supposed orbit of Themis.


There is also an asteroid named 24 Themis.


Themis in fiction

John Varley's science fiction novel Titan is set aboard an expedition to Saturn. As they approach the planet and prepare to enter orbit, the astronomer onboard discovers a new moon. At first she believes she has recovered Pickering's lost moon, so she names it Themis.


References


... | Titan | (Themis) | Hyperion | ...


Saturn
Janus' group | Mimas | Enceladus | Tethys | Dione | Rhea
Titan | Hyperion | Iapetus | Siarnaq's group | Phoebe's group
(For other moons, see: Saturn's natural satellites)
see also: Cassini-Huygens

  Results from FactBites:
 
Titans (4161 words)
Themis was the daughter of Uranus and Gaea.
According to Aeschylus, Themis had married her brother Iapetus (before she was wife of Zeus), and became the mother of the Titan Prometheus.
Themis was seen as the seated goddess, wearing a blindfold over her eyes; the blindfold symbolised her impartiality in judgement and setting reward or penalty to the dead.
The Titans - Crystalinks (3842 words)
Themis is not wrathful: she, "of the lovely cheeks" was the first to offer Hera a cup when she returned to Olympus distraught over threats from Zeus (Iliad xv.88).
Themis presided over the proper relation between man and woman, the basis of the rightly ordered family, and the family the pillar of the deme, and judges were often referred to as "themistopoloi" (the servants of Themis).
Themis was one of the gods behind the Oracle at Delphi, which she received from Gaia and gave to Phoebe.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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