In moon race, Saturn is still champ.The catalog of moons orbiting the outer planets has grown dramatically since the late 1990s. Large arrays of sensitive, electronic detectors have allowed astronomers Famous astronomers and astrophysicists include: Directory: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A
Although recent findings have raised the retinue of Jupiter's known moons to 28 (SN: 1/13/01, p. 24), Saturn continues to lead the pack. A team led by Brett Gladman of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in Nice, France, had previously found six small moons of Saturn Saturn has 60 confirmed natural satellites, plus three hypothetical moons. Introduction Saturn is currently thought to have sixty-three moons, many of which were discovered very recently, including three particularly un-confirmed, hypothetical moons. (SN: 12/9/00, p. 376; 11/4/00, p. 298), bringing the planet's count to 24. As of February, the team had found six more Saturn moons, upping the count to 30. The 12 new moons are classified as irregulars, meaning that their orbits are highly inclined relative to Saturn's equator and that they move in elliptical el·lip·tic or el·lip·ti·cal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse. 2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis. 3. a. , rather than circular, paths. The moons are tiny, less then 50 kilometers wide, and are outliers, orbiting Saturn at distances of 10 million to 20 million km. Gladman and his colleagues found all 12 new moons using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. "This has been an exciting couple of months, although extremely exhausting, as we chased all these moons, reduced a titanic amount of ... data, and correlated all the information to make sense of it," says Gladman. Several of the newly found moons orbit opposite to the direction in which Saturn rotates, he notes. Likewise, the irregular moons In astronomy, an irregular moon is a natural satellite following a distant, inclined, and often retrograde orbit. They are believed to have been captured by their parent planet, unlike regular satellites, which form in situ. of Jupiter and Uranus move opposite to the direction of rotation of their planets and their other moons. These retrograde retrograde /ret·ro·grade/ (ret´ro-grad) going backward; retracing a former course; catabolic. ret·ro·grade adj. 1. Moving or tending backward. 2. orbits have led astronomers to speculate that the irregular moons were captured by the fully formed planets from the vast reservoir of icy debris in the young solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. . If that theory is correct, Neptune should also harbor a group of irregular moons. None has been found yet, but this could be because the planet's great distance makes such tiny bodies more difficult to discern from Earth. "We hope to learn something about the timing and process of outer planet [formation] by unraveling the capture histories of these moons," says Philip D. Nicholson of Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. . --R.C. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion