Mundilfari (moon)

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mundilfari-moon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Mundilfari (moon)?September 2000
2. What is the object type?Irregular moon of Saturn
3. What is the provisional designation?S/2000 S 9
4. What is Mundilfari?Mundilfari is a tiny, icy and rocky moon of Saturn, about 7 kilometers wide. It has a non‑spherical shape and orbits far from the planet.
5. Why is Mundilfari called a moon that's not really a moon?Because it is an irregular moon that looks more like a captured small planet than a regular, round moon.

Irregular Moon: A moon with a distant, eccentric, and/or inclined orbit, often non-spherical in shape, likely captured.
Orbital Eccentricity: A measure of how much an orbit deviates from a perfect circle; higher values mean a more elongated orbit.
Orbital Inclination: The angle between an object's orbital plane and a reference plane (e.g., a planet's equatorial plane).
Prograde Orbit: An orbit in the same direction as the planet's rotation.