Get to know Hyperion, Saturn’s moon that emits electricity

Hyperion’s average radius is 83.9 miles (135 kilometers), but that’s because Hyperion is shaped like a potato. Experts explain that it is 255 x 163 x 137 miles based on the diameter of its three axes.

Because of its strange shape, astronomers believe that Hyperion may be the remains of a larger moon that was destroyed by a violent impact. Saturn’s moon is often nicknamed a giant comet because it has the same composition.

Hyperion is almost like pumice which is considered to contain water ice with voids (porosity) of more than 40 percent. Hyperion also has lighter materials, such as frozen methane or carbon dioxide.

Hyperion is thought to have formed from several smaller bodies of ice and rock, but they did not have enough gravity to compress them. So, Hyperion can look like a big pile of debris.

Hyperion is known to spin erratically, and fall invisibly through space as it orbits Saturn. Hyperion orbits at an average distance of 933,000 miles (1,500,000 kilometers) from Saturn in an eccentric orbit.

This contributes to fluctuations in Hyperion’s spin or rotation. Hyperion’s orbit matches that of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, which orbits at 759,200 miles (1,221,850 kilometers).