Which small moon shares the same orbit as Janus around Saturn?

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Which small moon shares the same orbit as Janus around Saturn? Epimetheus shares a co-orbital path with Janus around Saturn.

Janus and Epimetheus occupy nearly the same orbit, separated by only about 50 kilometers in mean orbital radius—less than either moon’s average radius. Their mutual gravity prevents a collision by causing them to exchange the inner and outer tracks approximately every four years.

The arrangement is a type of horseshoe orbit. The moon closer to Saturn travels slightly faster, gradually catches the other, and then receives a gravitational push that moves it outward. The outer moon simultaneously moves inward. They never come closer than roughly 10,000 kilometers during these encounters.

This unusual system also caused a historical discovery puzzle. Astronomers first thought observations from 1966 represented one object, Janus. In 1978, Stephen Larson and John Fountain realized that two moons were involved; Voyager 1 confirmed the interpretation in 1980. Epimetheus was named after the mythological brother of Prometheus.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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