Saturn’s Inuit group

The prograde family of distant moons that Tarqeq belongs to.

Published 2026-10-23

Most of Saturn’s distant moons go backwards. The Inuit group doesn’t.^[2][4]

What they share

Inuit-group moons have semi-major axes of 11–19 million km, inclinations of 43°–51° and eccentricities of 0.08–0.39. They take an average of about two years to orbit Saturn.^[4]

Three subgroups

The group has three clusterings, each associated with Kiviuq, Paaliaq or Siarnaq.^[4] The Siarnaq subgroup orbits at 17–19 million km.^[4] Tarqeq, at about 17.8 million km, fits there.^[3]

Captured objects

Like Saturn’s other irregular moons, they are thought to have been captured by Saturn’s gravity rather than formed from the disk around the young planet.^[2]

Names

The IAU uses names from Inuit mythology for this group, though only five have names so far.^[4]

Numbered citations link to the sources list on the Tarqeq overview page.