About Epimetheus
Epimetheus is an uncommon moon.
It orbits about 9.54 AU from the Sun — roughly 9.5 times Earth's distance.
Uncommon moon 30 EP
Epimetheus
Position computed live · planets
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Moon +16
- Has a proper name +8
- Tidally locked +6
Total score 30
4 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Moon · +16
- Has a proper name · +8
- Tidally locked · +6
Trivia
Hard to believe
- A frantic orbit. It laps its entire planet in under a day — 16.7 hours — which is faster than most planets even turn on their axis.
What it actually is
- Its address. It orbits about 9.54 AU from the Sun — roughly 9.5 times Earth's distance.
- Around its planet. It circles its planet at a distance of 151.4 thousand km — about 39% of the Earth–Moon gap — coming right round once every 16.7 hours.
Sense of scale
- Ground to cover. Its whole surface adds up to about 42.4 thousand km² — roughly 27 times the area of Greater London.
- Walk around it. Walking right round its equator, eight hours a day, would take about 9.1 days.
Time and light
- Sunrise is late. Sunlight takes about 79.3 minutes to get there, against eight minutes to reach us.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. Sunlight is about 90.9 times weaker there than at Earth.
- A year here. It rides around the Sun with its planet, one full lap every 29.5 Earth years.
Properties
- color
- #bdb2a0
- diameter km
- 116.2
- name
- Epimetheus
- named
- yes
- radius km
- 58.1
- tidally locked
- yes
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Epimetheus is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why Epimetheus is an uncommon moon
Epimetheus scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Moon, Has a proper name and Tidally locked — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.