Encyclopedia Entry #9 – Albiorix

Albiorix is a small moon of Saturn’s that was discovered in 2000.  It’s also known as S/2000 S 11.

Data

• Dimensions: 32 km in diameter
• Mass: unknown
• Density: unknown
• Surface gravity: unknown
• Albedo: 0.04
• Temperature: unknown
• Mean orbital radius: 16,182,000 km
• Orbital period: 783 d
• Inclination: 34.207° (to the ecliptic)
• Eccentricity: 0.477

Name Origin

Albiorix was a Gallic giant that’s said to have been king of the world.  It originated in Gaul (now France) and is associated with the Roman god Mars.

5 Interesting Facts

1. The colour has been determined to be light red.

2. It has a 13.19 hour rotation period.

3. It’s the largest member of a group of satellites called the Gallic satellites.  These satellites may have originally been a larger moon.

4. Colour variations suggest a large crater on the surface.  There’s a hypothesis that Erriapus and Tarvos may be fragments of Albiorix from this collision.

5. It was discovered by the team led by M. J. Holman, which has discovered a total of 11 satellites.

There isn’t much known about Albiorix, as it is orbiting quite far from Saturn.  There is no image available.

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The Curse of Series

Have you ever read a novel series, excited to read the next part after an excellent first book, and find that the second book is merely good?  Then the third book is mediocre?  Then the fourth is awful?  That seems to be a common problem, though it’s not universal.

I can think of a couple science fiction series I’ve been reading that are just like this.  The first is Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Saga. I thought Ender’s Game was a very good book.  Then Speaker for the Dead was even better.  However, Xenocide was mediocre at best.

The second series, one I just finished yesterday, is the Space Odyssey series.  2001 was excellent. 2010 was very good, and had a very similar feeling as the first book and provided a lot of tension.  2061 was okay, and still had some decent tension.  However, 3001 turned out to be lacking in tension completely and the ending completely let me down.

Of course, I’ve read several that just seem to get better as I read them.  A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin comes to mind (note that I’ve only read the first three books).

What series have you read that get worse with each book?  What about those that just keep getting better and better?  Leave a comment with your thoughts.