S/2004 S 12

S/2004 S 12 is a natural satellite of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on 4 May 2005 from observations taken between 12 December 2004 and 9 March 2005.

S/2004 S 12

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Scott S. Sheppard et al.
Discovery site	Mauna Kea Obs.
Discovery date	12 December 2004
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 9 August 2022 (JD 2459800.5)
Observation arc	15.61 yr (5,703 days)
Semi-major axis	0.1327201 AU (19,855,000 km)
Eccentricity	0.3711930
Orbital period (sidereal)	–2.86 yr (–1044.50 d)
Mean anomaly	326.59167°
Mean motion	0° 20m 40.789s / day
Inclination	163.85743° (to ecliptic)
Longitude of ascending node	330.73760°
Argument of perihelion	111.13920°
Satellite of	Saturn
Group	Norse group
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	≈5 km[3]
Albedo	0.04 (assumed)[3]
Apparent magnitude	24.8[3]
Absolute magnitude (H)	15.9[2]

S/2004 S 12 is about 5 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 19,855,000 kilometres in about 1,044 days, at an inclination of 163.9° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.371.^[2][4]

This moon was considered lost^[5] until its recovery was announced on 12 October 2022.^[2] (In 2021, it had also been found in Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope observations from 2019.)^[6]