Voyager 2 enters home stretch to Neptune.Voyager 2 enters home stretch to Neptune As Voyager 2 accelerates toward its Aug. 24 close encounter with Neptune, scientists gathering at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. control center in Pasadena, Calif., relish each new finding about the planet. On Aug. 3, less than a week after researchers identified Neptune's third known satellite in the spacecraft's photos, Voyager officials announced the discovery of three more. The number had not grown by Aug. 8, but imaging team member Richard J. Terrile Richard John Terrile (born 22.03.1951 in New York) is a Voyager scientist who discovered several moons of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. He works for the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. of the Jet Propulsion jet propulsion, propulsion of a body by a force developed in reaction to the ejection of a high-speed jet of gas. Jet Propulsion Engines The four basic parts of a jet engine are the compressor, turbine, combustion chamber, and propelling nozzles. Lab noted that "we've seen more moons while we're still far away than we did at Uranus. Seeing these so far away means there are probably a lot more." The three newest moons, temporarily known as 1989 N2, N3 and N4, follow nearly circular paths around the planet's equator and travel in the same direction as Neptune rotates. This makes Neptune's big moon Triton even more of an oddity: It travels backward, or retrograde, in an orbit tilted nearly 30[deg.] to the equator (see story, p. 111). Innermost of the new moons is 1989 N3, which circles the planet every 8 hours, 10 minutes, about 17,000 miles above Neptune's cloud tops. Next is 1989 N4, taking 10 hours, 20 minutes to orbit 23,200 miles out from the clouds. Most distant is 1989 N2, orbiting every 13 hours, 30 minutes, 30,000 miles out. All three are close enough to Neptune to pass through the partial "arcs" thought by some to encircle en·cir·cle tr.v. en·cir·cled, en·cir·cling, en·cir·cles 1. To form a circle around; surround. See Synonyms at surround. 2. To move or go around completely; make a circuit of. the planet (SN: 8/5/89, p.87). Researchers have proposed that such moons may play an important role in gravitationally grav·i·ta·tion n. 1. Physics a. The natural phenomenon of attraction between physical objects with mass or energy. b. The act or process of moving under the influence of this attraction. 2. holding the arcs in position. As of Aug. 8, however, Voyager 2 had failed to detect any arcs. Scientists analyzing Voyager 2 photos of Triton report it possesses a substantial amount of "limb darkening," a darker appearance near its edges than near the center of the disk. But it remains unclear whether this indicates overlying overlying suffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. haze or a surface similar to those of the brighter satellites of Saturn. Compared with the cloud features of other giant planets, Neptune's look most like those of Jupiter, says Andrew P. Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. in Pasadena. As on Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, the winds of Neptune seem to blow in horizontal bands whose speeds correlate with latitude. By Aug. 8, the spacecraft had found no signs of Neptunian radio emissions or other evidence that the planet has a magnetic field. |
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