Bestla or Saturn XXXIX is a retrograde irregular moon 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 13 December 2004 and 5 March 2005. Description Bestla is about 7 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 20,192,000 km in 1088 days, at an inclination of 147° to the ecliptic (151° to Saturn's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.5145. Early observations from 2005 suggested that Bestla had a very high eccentricity of 0.77. Like many of the outer irregular moons of the giant planets, Bestla's eccentricity may vary as a result of the Kozai mechanism. Bestla's rotation period is hours. Like Kiviuq, it is likely to be a contact binary or binary object, as its light curve has strong variation in brightness and a plateau-like maximum not seen in the other irregulars. Name This moon was named in April 2007 after Bestla, a frost giantess from Norse mythology, who is a mother of Odin. References External links Saturn's Known Satellites (by Scott S. Sheppard) Jewitt's New Satellites of Saturn page IAUC 8523: New Satellites of Saturn May 4, 2005 (discovery) IAUC 8826: Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn April 5, 2007 (naming the moon) raw Images Norse group Moons of Saturn Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2005 Moons with a retrograde orbit