New moons for Saturn.Move over Uranus, the ringed planet is now king. When the Cassini spacecraft arrives at Saturn, it will have more to look at than scientists had expected. Astronomers last month reported the discovery of four new moons orbiting Saturn. If confirmed, the findings raise the ringed planet's moon count to 22, making it the solar system's record holder. Uranus is the runner-up, with 21 known moons. All four of the new moons are outliers, orbiting at least 15 million kilometers from Saturn's surface. Brett Gladman of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in Nice, France, and his colleagues spotted two of the moons on Aug. 7 using the European Southern Observatory's 2.2-meter telescope in La Silla, Chile. Gladman and J.J. Kavelaars of McMaster University McMaster University, at Hamilton, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; founded 1887. It has faculties of humanities, science, social sciences, business, engineering, and health sciences, as well as a school of graduate studies and a divinity college. in Hamilton, Ontario, then recorded the same two objects, as well as two other moons, in late September at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope is located near the mountain top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii at an altitude of 4,204 meters (13,793 feet). It is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of 3.58 meters. on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. An estimated 10 to 50 km across, the objects show up in images taken an hour apart as faint dots of light moving around Saturn. The moons have looping orbits, and astronomers propose that they were captured by Saturn long after the planet formed. In contrast, the inner 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. , which have nearly circular orbits, probably coalesced co·a·lesce intr.v. co·a·lesced, co·a·lesc·ing, co·a·lesc·es 1. To grow together; fuse. 2. To come together so as to form one whole; unite: from the disk of dust and gas that surrounded the planet during its formation. Gladman's team describes its findings in Oct. 25 circulars of the International Astronomical Union “IAU” redirects here. For other uses, see IAU (disambiguation). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. . |
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