S/2004 S 3
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S/2004 S 3 is the provisional designation of an object seen orbiting Saturn just beyond the outer strand of the F ring on 21 June, 2004. It was first seen by Carl Murray of the Cassini Imaging Science Team in images taken by the Cassini-Huygens probe on June 21, 2004,[3] and announced on September 9, 2004.[5] Despite later attempts to recover it, it has not been reliably sighted since. Notably, an imaging sequence covering an entire orbital period at 4 km resolution taken on 15 November, 2004 failed to recover the object. This suggests that it was a temporary clump of material that had disappeared by that time.[1] Another object, S/2004 S 4, was sighted nearby 5 hours later, but this time just inside the F Ring. Because of the differing localisation the second object was given a fresh designation, although their interpretation as a single object on a F-ring crossing orbit is also possible.[5] Such an object might also be orbiting at a slightly different inclination to the F ring, thereby not actually passing through the ring material despite being seen both radially inward and outward of it. If a solid object after all, S/2004 S 3 would be 3−5 km in diameter based on brightness, and might be a shepherd satellite for the outer edge of Saturn's F ring. References
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