Ijiraq is one of the irregular moons of Saturn, discovered in 2000 by the team of astronomers Brett Gladman, John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Hans Scholl, Matthew J. Holman, Brian G. Marsden, Phillip D. Nicholson, and Joseph A. Burns, using observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Ijiraq has a diameter of about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) and orbits Saturn at a distance of about 11.1 million kilometers (6.9 million miles) in a highly inclined and eccentric orbit. Its orbit is retrograde, meaning it orbits Saturn in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation. Like many of Saturn's irregular moons, Ijiraq has a very dark surface, with a reflectivity of only about 4%. Its surface is also heavily cratered, with some craters being up to 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in diameter. In addition, Ijiraq's surface shows evidence of tectonic activity, with several large, steep-sided ridges crossing its surface. Ijiraq's origin is still not well understood, but it is believed to be a captured object, meaning that it did not form in orbit around Saturn but was instead captured by the planet's gravitational pull at some point in the past. Overall, Ijiraq is a small but intriguing moon that continues to be studied by astronomers and planetary scientists in order to better understand its origin, evolution, and the dynamics of the Saturnian system.
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