Janus is the sixth Natural Satellite of Saturn and it was discovered by the French Astronomer Audouin Dollfus (November 12, 1924 – October 1st, 2010) in 1966 and was named after the Roman "Two-Faced" God of Gates and Doorways (and, as a matter of fact, Janus is depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions).
Janus has an irregular shape with a maximum diameter of approx. 181 Kilometers (such as about 113 miles) and it is an heavily cratered Celestial Body, with a few craters having dimensions of about 30 Km (approx. 19 miles) or more across. The pervasive cratering characterizing Janus indicates that its Surface must be several billion years old. In comparison, the Saturnian Moon Prometheus appears to have fewer craters than Janus (thus indicating a younger Surface) while Pandora appears to have an older Surface. Janus has also few very intriguing Linear Features (Canyons, maybe) on its Surface.
Furthermore, Janus share its orbit with another small Saturnian moon: Epimetheus . They both orbit at approx. 151.472 Km (about 94.125 miles) from Saturn's center - or 91.000 Km (approx. 56.547 miles) from Saturn's Clouds Top. Janus and Epimetheus are only separated by about 50 Km (approx. 31 miles) and, as these two Celestial Bodies approach each other, they exchange a little momentum and trade orbits; the Inner Body becomes the Outer one while the Outer one moves to the Inner position. This exchange happens once every 4 (four) years.
Janus and Epimetheus may have formed from the disruption of a single Parent Celestial Body, in order to form co-orbital satellites. If this is the case, the disruption must have happened early in the history of Saturn's Satellites System.
This frame has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors by (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft and then looked towards the Saturnian moon Janus), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.
