Actaea (moon)
Salacia and its moon Actaea, imaged by the Keck telescope on 3 August 2010. Actaea is the fainter object to the left of Salacia. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Keith S. Noll, Harold F. Levison, Denise C. Stephen, William M. Grundy |
| Discovery date | 21 July 2006 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Salacia I |
| Pronunciation | /ækˈtiːə/ |
| S/2006 (120347) 1 | |
| Adjectives | Actaean /ækˈtiːən/ |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 5724±27 km | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0098±0.0038 |
| 5.493882±0.000023 days | |
| Inclination | 23.59±0.36° |
| 45.2±1.6° | |
| 134±23° | |
| Satellite of | Salacia |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 284±10 km |
| Mass | ≈ 20×1018 kg |
| Albedo | ≈ 0.035 +0.010/−0.007 |
Spectral type | V–I = 0.89±0.02 (Actaea) |
| 1.9 mag | |
Actaea, formal designation (120347) Salacia I, is a natural satellite of the classical Kuiper belt object 120347 Salacia. Its diameter is estimated to be approximately 300 km (190 mi), which is approximately one-third the diameter of Salacia; thus, Salacia and Actaea are viewed by William Grundy et al. to be a binary system. Assuming that the following size estimates are correct, Actaea is about the sixth-biggest known moon of a trans-Neptunian object, after Charon (1212 km), Dysnomia (700 km), Vanth (443 km), Ilmarë (326 km), and Hiʻiaka (320 km), but possibly also Hiisi (250 km).