Suttungr is a moon of Saturn, part of the Solar System in the universe. Saturn is a planet associated with the Sun, our star, and this space encyclopedia describes the moon’s identity and place in its planetary system.

Suttungr — A natural satellite of Saturn. Its physical properties and orbital motion are shown from the available catalogue and ephemeris data.

No object-specific chemical/elemental dataset has been verified and imported for this record. This does not mean none is publicly available. Appearance may be imagined; chemistry is not.

Discovery and designation
Suttungr was discovered in 2000. JPL credits B. Gladman, J. Kavelaars, J.-M. Petit, H. Scholl, M. Holman, B.G. Marsden, P. Nicholson, J.A. Burns. Its provisional designation is S/2000 S12. The name and discovery entry identify this particular satellite of Saturn; similarly named asteroids are separate objects.

Suttungr was discovered in 2000 by Brett J. Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew J. Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Phillip D. Nicholson, and Joseph A. Burns using the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii reflector on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with adaptive optics. They discovered seven other Saturnian moons at the same time: Tarvos, Ijiraq, Thrymr, Skathi, Siarnaq, Erriapus, and Mundilfari.

Suttungr has a mean radius of 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers), assuming an albedo (a measure of how reflective the surface is) of 0.06. It orbits Saturn at an inclination of about 174 degrees and an eccentricity of about 0.1. At a mean distance of 12.1 million miles (19.5 million kilometers) from Saturn, the moon takes about 1,017 Earth days to complete one orbit.

Suttungr is a member of the Norse group of moons. These "irregular" moons have retrograde orbits around Saturn — traveling around in the opposite direction from the planet's rotation. Suttungr and the other Norse moons also have eccentric orbits, meaning they are more elongated than circular.

Like Saturn's other irregular moons, Suttungr is thought to be an object that was captured by Saturn's gravity, rather than having accreted from the dusty disk that surrounded the newly formed planet as the regular moons are thought to have done.

Originally called S/2000 S12, Suttungr was named for Suttungr (also spelled Suttung), a giant in Norse mythology. Two dwarfs were responsible for the death of Suttungr's father in a "boating accident." Those same two dwarfs also murdered his mother. So Suttungr captured the dwarfs and took them to a reef, planning to leave them there to drown when the high tide came in. However, Suttung relented when the dwarfs offered to give him special mead (an alcoholic drink made of honey and, in this special case, the blood of a traveling wise man they had killed) which made anyone who drank the mead a poet or scholar. Suttungr ultimately lost the mead to Odin, the supreme Norse god.