Atlas The Titan and Atlas The Inner Satellite of Saturn – Manchester, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 28.845 W 002° 14.555
30U E 550263 N 5926019
Just as Atlas is carrying the earth on his shoulders in this statue, Atlas the inner satellite of Saturn is so named because it holds the rings of Saturn on its shoulders.
Waymark Code: WMEDFN
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/11/2012
Views: 1
In Greek mythology Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the celestial spheres or the heavens. In art in modern times the celestial spheres changed to become the Earth.
This statue stands above the entrance to offices of the Atlas Assurance Company built in 1929 and used as a good advertising symbol for the company.
Atlas the satellite of Saturn was discovered in 1980 from photos taken by the Voyager spacecraft.
It is the closest satellite to the ‘A’ ring of Saturn and was originally thought to be a shepherd satellite of the ring. This was later disproved but in 2004 a new faint ring was discovered in the Atlantean orbit.
The orbit of Atlas is disrupted by the larger satellites Prometheus and Pandora.
In 2005 the Cassini spacecraft took a close up photograph of Atlas showing a saucer shape with a large smooth equatorial ridge. (
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