Tethys

Tethys, in astronomy

Tethys (tē`thĭs), in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn III (or S3), Tethys is 659 mi (1060 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 183,093 mi (294,660 km), and has equal orbital and rotational periods of 1.8878 earth days. Tethys was discovered by the Italian-French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1684. Tethys's low density (1.2) implies that is composed primarily of water ice. The heavily cratered satellite has two dominant surface features: one is an impact crater—called Odysseus—about 250 mi (400 km) in diameter that is quite flat and without the high wall and central peak common on the moon; the other a huge valley—called Ithaca Chasma—that is 63 mi (100 km) wide, 2.5 mi (4 km) deep, and 1,250 mi (2,000 km) long, stretching three quarters of the way around Tethys's circumference. Tethys is co-orbital with two other moons; that is, they orbit Saturn at the same distance as Tethys but precede (Telesto) and follow (Calypso) Tethys by about 60°.

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Tethys, in Greek religion and mythology

Tethys, in Greek religion and mythology, a Titan, daughter of Gaea and Uranus. She was the wife of the seagod Oceanus and the mother of the Oceanids.

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Tethys

the sea that lay between Laurasia and Gondwanaland, the two supercontinents formed by the first split of the larger supercontinent Pangaea. The Tethys Sea can be regarded as the predecessor of today's smaller Mediterranean

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Tethys [′tē·thəs]

(astronomy)

A satellite of the planet Saturn having a diameter of about 660 miles (1060 kilometers).

(geology)

A sea which existed for extensive periods of geologic time between the northern and southern continents of the Eastern Hemisphere.

A composite geosyncline from which many structures of the present Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt were formed.

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Tethys

goddess-wife of Oceanus. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 1070]

See : Sea

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Tethys

a satellite of the planet Saturn. Its diameter is approximately 1,000 km and its mean distance from the center of the planet is 295,000 km. Tethys was discovered in 1684 by the French astronomer G. Cassini.

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Tethys

(named for Thetis, the ancient Greek goddess of the sea), an ancient ocean basin that, during the Mesozoic period, separated the European and Siberian continents from the African and peninsular Indian continents and connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The name was proposed in the late 19th century by the Austrian geologist E. Suess.

The region occupied by the Tethys had formerly been called the Central Mediterranean Region by M. Neumayr; in the French literature it was called the Mésogée. The term “Tethys” was subsequently extended to the Paleozoic ocean of the same region, called the Paleotethys. The Paleogene-Neogene seas that are remnants of the Mesozoic Tethys are called the Paratethys; the present Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian seas are a relict of Paratethys.