Skathi (moon)
Skathi, or Saturn XXVII, is a natural satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by Brett Gladman, Kavelaars and colleagues in 2000, and given the temporary designation S/2000 S 8.
Skathi is about 8 kilometres in diameter and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 15.576 Gm in 725.784 days, at an inclination of 149° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.246. Its rotation period is hours.
Skathi may have been formed from debris knocked off Phoebe by large impacts at some point in the Solar System's history.Name
The name comes from Norse mythology, where Skaði is a giantess and the wife of the Vanir god Niord. The name of the moon was given as Skadi by early sources, with a as a graphical approximation of the Icelandic letter eth. That was the spelling that had been announced in 2003; however, the IAU Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature decided in early 2005 to instead use the transliteration. The adjectival form "Skathian" is found in fiction.
