Aegir is about 4 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19,618 Mm in 1025.908 days, at an inclination of 167° to the ecliptic (140° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.237.
Name
The moon was named in April 2007 after Ægir, a giant from Norse mythology, the personification of tranquil seas, the one who soothes storms away. He is a son of Fornjót, and brother of Logi (fire, flame) and Kári (wind). The exoplanet Epsilon Eridani b (AEgir) was also named after this figure in 2015.[4]
The name may be pronounced various ways. /ˈaɪjɪər/ (with the 'g' pronounced as a y-sound) approximates modern Norwegian and Icelandic. /ˈæɡɪər/ (with a hard 'g') approximates what the Old Norse may have sounded like, while the Latinized/spelling pronunciations /ˈiːdʒɪər/, /ˈɛdʒɪər/ and /ˈeɪdʒɪər/ are also found.[5][6][7]
References
^Ma, Yuehua; et al. (2010), "On the Origin of Retrograde Orbit Satellites around Saturn and Jupiter", Icy Bodies of the Solar System, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, vol. 263, pp. 157–160, Bibcode:2010IAUS..263..157M, doi:10.1017/S1743921310001687.
