Shecoda
05-09-2005, 02:28 AM
May 6
A Dozen New Moons Found Orbiting Saturn
A dozen small moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing that planet's total known count to 46.
The discoveries were made with Japan's Subaru telescope in Hawaii in an ongoing project led by David Jewitt at the University of Hawaii.
The moons are estimated to range in diameter from 2 to 4 miles (3 to 7 kilometers). They are provisionally named S/2004-S7 through S/2004-S18. All but one of them orbits Saturn in the opposite direction of the planet's spin. This retrograde motion, as it is called, is common of small moons around the outer planets and indicates the rocky objects may be captured asteroids, scientists say.
The number of known moons in our solar system has jumped dramatically in recent years as various teams have employed new technologies to find them. Researchers expect there are hundreds and possibly thousands more, depending on how small an object should be considered a moon.
As of this writing, Jupiter has 63 known moons, Uranus has 27, and 13 have been found around Neptune. Mars has two moons and Earth has one, as does Pluto.
The discoveries were made last December and announced this week.
http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html
A Dozen New Moons Found Orbiting Saturn
A dozen small moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing that planet's total known count to 46.
The discoveries were made with Japan's Subaru telescope in Hawaii in an ongoing project led by David Jewitt at the University of Hawaii.
The moons are estimated to range in diameter from 2 to 4 miles (3 to 7 kilometers). They are provisionally named S/2004-S7 through S/2004-S18. All but one of them orbits Saturn in the opposite direction of the planet's spin. This retrograde motion, as it is called, is common of small moons around the outer planets and indicates the rocky objects may be captured asteroids, scientists say.
The number of known moons in our solar system has jumped dramatically in recent years as various teams have employed new technologies to find them. Researchers expect there are hundreds and possibly thousands more, depending on how small an object should be considered a moon.
As of this writing, Jupiter has 63 known moons, Uranus has 27, and 13 have been found around Neptune. Mars has two moons and Earth has one, as does Pluto.
The discoveries were made last December and announced this week.
http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html