The Strange Case of Hyperion, and Other Mysteries

Abstract

In 1848 the eighth moon of Saturn was discovered. Named Hyperion, it was a dim object, so dim that it could be no larger than a few hundred miles across—perhaps 300—making it only about one-tenth the size of Earth’s moon. It orbited well outside Saturn’s rings at a distance of 980,000 miles from the planet, and its orbit, although eccentric compared to planetary orbits, was considerably less eccentric than many of the asteroid orbits.