Prometheus is one of the small, inner moons of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 from photos taken by Voyager 1 and is also known as Saturn XVI.

 

A faint stream of material appears to connect the F ring to Prometheus, the white blob at the bottom, in this image taken by Cassini in Jul 2004.

 

Prometheus and Pandora act as shepherd moons for the inner edge of Saturn's F-ring. Prometheus is extremely elongated and has a number of ridges and valleys on its northern side. Although craters up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide mark its icy surface, it appears to be less heavily cratered than its neighboring moons Pandora, Janus, and Epimetheus. Its low estimated density suggests that it may be a porous, icy body.

 

discovery	1980, by S. Collins et al
semimajor axis	139,353 km (85,590 mi)
diameter	119 × 87 × 61 km (74 × 54 × 38 mi)
mean density	0.5 g/cm3
escape velocity	0.019 km/s (68 km/h, 43 mph)
orbital period	0.613 days (14 h 43 min)
orbital eccentricity	0.002
orbital inclination	0.01°
visual albedo	0.6

 

Prometheus is a volcano on Io known as the Jovian moon's "Old Faithful." Prometheus has been active during every observation of it since it was first seen by Voyager 1, though its plume, which is 80 kilometers tall, has migrated about 85 kilometers to the west.

 

See also Project Prometheus.