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Space Science

New Uranus Moons and Rings Discovered 128

Posted by Zonk from the remember-the-children-before-you-post dept.
Patrick Furlong writes "CNN reports that the Hubble Space Telescope has discovered two new moons and two new rings around Uranus. The moons had been imaged by Voyager 2 in 1986 but were not recognized as moons at the time." More from MSNBC, and the official Hubble Site. From the CNN article: "The Hubble images also confirmed the existence of another moon, Perdita, which was first identified in the Voyager 2 pictures but had eluded telescopes ever since. Many moons of Uranus are named after characters in Shakespeare, and these new moons follow suit. Mab is named for Queen Mab, who is the subject of a famous speech by the character Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet.'"
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New Uranus Moons and Rings Discovered More

New Uranus Moons and Rings Discovered

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  • Heh - Futurama (Score:5, Funny)

    by robyannetta ( 820243 ) * on Friday December 23, 2005 @08:40PM (#14329971) Homepage
    Fry: "Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus." *laughs*

    Leela: "I don't get it."

    Professor: "I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all."

    Fry: "Oh. What's it called now?"

    Professor: "Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you."

    Fry: "Hehe, no, no, I think I'll just smell around a bit over here."

  • Gas giants and rings (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PIPBoy3000 ( 619296 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @08:44PM (#14329998)
    At this point, the question seems to be, do gas giants ever not have rings? They seem to be celestial vacuum cleaners, attracting all sorts of debris. It's a good thing too, as it probably kept the orbital bombardment of Earth to a minimum.

    • Re:Gas giants and rings (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Hahahaha Uranus is a gas giant hahahahahahahahaha

      • Re:Gas giants and rings (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        A large part of Uranus is methane hahahahahahahahaha
        If it were much more massive, it would be a brown dwarf hahahahahahahahaha
        It's the seventh-most planet fron the Sun hahahahahahahahaha

        Man, I just can't get enough of that planetology humor!

        • Re:Gas giants and rings (Score:1, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Heh heh... He said anus...
        • But not half as much as I love Uranus!

          Seriously though, does ANYONE not LOVE Uranus jokes? Here it it, a massive planet many times larger than ours, and at this point in our space exploration infancy all it's good for is absolutely hilarious ass jokes. DAMN I love Uranus.

    • Re:Gas giants and rings (Score:5, Informative)

      by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@ y a hoo.com> on Friday December 23, 2005 @08:57PM (#14330056) Homepage Journal
      The rings are unstable and constantly evaporating, so only relatively young gas giants OR gas giants in relatively crowded solar systems should have rings. Uranus' inner moons, which are likely shepharding moons, are in unstable orbits and will likely collide in the next million years. If the rings were to survive that long, I doubt they could survive much longer without the inner moons being there.


      Jupiter has thin rings, despite being bombarded a great deal more than Uranus or Saturn, though you'd need to talk to an expert in planetary physics if you have much of a hope of finding out why.


      Of the rocky planets, Earth is the only one I know of that has a (natural) ring. It is extremely thin and usually ignored, but does exist. My guess, based on the theory that the moon is a result of a collision between an original Earth and some planet of comparable size, is that the ring is debris that was launched by the collision but did not congeal into the moon as it now is.


      The multitude of rings of space junk launched by humans is stupid. That which cannot be retrieved for space museum purposes should be swept up and removed, before it becomes impossible to get into space at all.


      Going back to the discoveries - I think it less of a surprise that the discoveries have occured (just think of how many new rings and moons have been discovered around Jupiter and Saturn) than it is a surprise that people haven't found anything before now for Uranus. Its rotation is so strange and its properties so bizare that I would have thought that planetary astronomers would have concentrated extra effort onto it. Discoveries do not come from studying the mundane, they come from studying the exceptions and understanding why and how they have become such.

      • i thought jupiter's rings were caused by io's volcanic activity. if i remember they were constantly falling into the planet to be replaced by debris from fresh eruptions on the moon.

      • jd wrote:

        [I]t is a surprise that people haven't found anything before now for Uranus. Its rotation is so strange and its properties so bizare that I would have thought that planetary astronomers would have concentrated extra effort onto it.

        A cop walking his beat noticed a man, obviously drunk, searching the ground underneath a streetlight.

        ``Excuse me, sir, but what're you looking for?'' asked the cop.

        ``My...my keys,'' the drunk stammered. ``I d-dropped 'em.''

        The cop paused for a moment, shinin

      • The multitude of rings of space junk launched by humans is stupid. That which cannot be retrieved for space museum purposes should be swept up and removed, before it becomes impossible to get into space at all.

        This is actually the premise for one of my favourite anime series; Planetes. The main characters are all members of what is basically a stellar garbage collection service. One of the more original sci-fi series I've seem for a while, mostly because it doesn't run like sci-fi, just like life in the

        • Don't bother to de-orbit space junk (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          "The multitude of rings of space junk launched by humans is stupid. That which cannot be retrieved for space museum purposes should be swept up and removed, before it becomes impossible to get into space at all."

          Putting weight into a stable orbit is expensive. Let's take the Athena II launch vehicle as an example. To get 1,896 kilograms to low earth orbit it costs about $25,000,000. Which works out to approximately $13,000/kg. You want to de-orbit the payload, the final motor stage, and any other random

      • Of the rocky planets, Earth is the only one I know of that has a (natural) ring. It is extremely thin and usually ignored, but does exist. My guess, based on the theory that the moon is a result of a collision between an original Earth and some planet of comparable size, is that the ring is debris that was launched by the collision but did not congeal into the moon as it now is.

        I'm curious, this is the first I've heard of Earth having a ring. The only reference I can find is a hypothesis of a ring havin

        • MisterBuggie wrote:

          I'm curious, this is the first I've heard of Earth having a ring.

          AOL

          And, it would seem we're in good company. NASA hasn't heard of one, either. [nasa.gov]

          Cheers,

          b&

          • I noticed that too. Curious, given it was their satellites that observed it, according to the reference I found. Apparently, their right webmaster knoweth not what their left webmaster doeth. With their infrared telescopes, anyways.

        • I've heard of this too, although by "ring" is meant "slightly more dust than in the surrounding interplanetary vacuum". If I remember correctly, the theory is that it's fed by dust kicked up by meteors on the moon. (The formation of the moon was a long time ago; back then, the Earth must have had a fairly impressive and visible ring -- and the young moon was a lot closer, for that matter --, but I don't think any traces would have lasted this long.)

        • It's in postscript, so be warned! (Score:4, Informative)

          by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@ y a hoo.com> on Friday December 23, 2005 @11:33PM (#14330614) Homepage Journal
          The reference discusses systems in general, but does include a brief section on the Earth's rings [roe.ac.uk]. The text of interest is at the start of page 4. Ignoring the stuff about the IRAS and COBE satellites, which imaged it, we have the following comment:


          The Earth's ring corresponds to Case I in Figure 1, a circular ring with a gap at the location of the planet. However, the Earth's low mass means that it traps relatively few particles; the ring represents a density enhancement of only a few percent. This effect would scarcely appear in an image of the solar system seen from afar.

      • Jupiter has thin rings, despite being bombarded a great deal more than Uranus or Saturn, though you'd need to talk to an expert in planetary physics if you have much of a hope of finding out why.

        I don't know homeboy, I hear Uranus gets bombarded ALL THE TIME! Oh yes, don't stop the magic.
      • All of our gas giants have rings. Rings are very unstable, so probably wouldn't last much longer than a hundred million years. Yet, five billion years after our solar system was created, all the gas giants still have them. There is likely some means of recycling and/or regenerating ring material that is going on. If the rings lasted five billion years around all the planets, they'll likely last another five billion years.

  • There names are (Score:5, Funny)

    by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportlandNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Friday December 23, 2005 @08:44PM (#14329999) Homepage Journal
    Boil and Pimple.

    Thank you, I'll be here all night!

  • Hubble? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23, 2005 @09:04PM (#14330089)
    So, tell me again why they're getting rid of the Hubble telescope?
    • Why did this get modded offtopic while the 100x lame jokes get modded up?
    • So, tell me again why they're getting rid of the Hubble telescope?

      Because it might make more financial sense to put up a new space telescope
    • Because those probably aren't actually new moons or rings... maybe Hubble is seeing Dubble again... hehe sorry...

  • "Uranus" (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Heh, "rings" around... oh screw it, this is too easy. We need originality in our comedy. All your base are belong to us.

  • TV newscasts just got worth watching (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cryfreedomlove ( 929828 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @09:13PM (#14330127)
    The last time Uranus was in the news I got quite a kick out of watching TV news anchors squirm as they talked about Your Anus.

  • Oh crap.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Mr. Cancelled ( 572486 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @09:18PM (#14330145)
    Rings around Uranus... Moons...
    This all sounds like a Goatse moment if I've ever heard of one

    Mustn't click the wrong link...

  • Moons (Score:5, Informative)

    by echostorm ( 865318 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @09:37PM (#14330213)
    Im pretty sure this brings the list to 23?

    * Cordelia - 1986
    * Ophelia - 1986
    * Bianca - 1986
    * Cressida - 1986
    * Desdemona - 1986
    * Juliet - 1986
    * Portia - 1986
    * Rosalind - 1986
    * Belinda - 1986
    * Puck - 1986
    * Titania - 1787
    * Oberon - 1787
    * Ariel - 1851
    * Miranda - 1948
    * Umbriel - ?
    * Caliban
    * Sycorax
    * Prospero
    * Setebos
    * Stephano
    * Perditta - 1986
    * Mab - 2005
    * Cupid - 2005

    Thats a heck of alot of moons!
  • Why did they name this new moon after the dog in 101 Dalmatians? They're just opening themselves up to a lawsuit from Disney.

  • Bah Slashdot Editors (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @09:46PM (#14330237) Homepage Journal
    No sense of what makes a good headline. My submission for this was "Hubble Finds Dark Rings around Uranus" but noooo....

    Oh well anyway, I think it's pretty neat that after having peered into the darkest depths of space, Hubble can still find interesting things to look at here in our own backyard! You'd think the telescope would have demonstrated its merits enough to not have to constantly exist under threat of having its funding cut and it being deorbited...

  • Save Hubble then? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by 4D6963 ( 933028 )
    I have the feeling again when reading the article that the accent is on how Hubble can help scientist make discoveries, in order to show that Hubble is more usefull than often thought, and that thus we have to "save" it. Maybe just a feeling tho..
  • I for one welcome our sure-to-come gross space joke overlords....

  • Itchy (Score:1, Insightful)

    by PacketScan ( 797299 )
    What size were these hemroids?

    Hemorrhoids (hemroids)

  • Wow... (Score:3, Funny)

    by StoatBringer ( 552938 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @10:00PM (#14330285)
    The Hubble must have a pretty powerful flash to light the outer planets up so well.
  • Uranus, moons and gas giants!

  • Oblig Chem Joke (Score:2, Funny)

    by eosp ( 885380 )
    I know I'll get modded offtopic, but: Q) What's the difference between miazole and urazole? A) The size of the ring.

  • Uranus is so big... (Score:3, Funny)

    by bk4u ( 682315 ) on Friday December 23, 2005 @10:59PM (#14330466) Homepage
    they're still discovering moons around it.

  • What do the Starship Enterprise... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...and toilet paper have in common? They both circle Uranus wiping out Klingons.

  • Precious (Score:3, Funny)

    by BorgCopyeditor ( 590345 ) on Saturday December 24, 2005 @12:12AM (#14330763)
    Quote from the CNN article: "No one thought this region of Uranus was very interesting."
  • At first, I thought that Slashdot was a full 30 hours behind fark [fark.com].

    But then I discovered that fark is actually two and a half years behind slashdot. [slashdot.org]
  • Rings & moons around Uranus... there's got to be a joke in there somewhere.
  • given that it had been imaged by Voyager 2 but had eluded telescopses since then. I believe "Perdita" means "Lost" in Latin...
  • I wonder if the lawyers have contacted NASA yet about the name of that new ring. I hope they name the next moon negativland.
  • Does our technology really get better? Or are these rings NEW? Are they some kind of weapon system that is slowly being assembled to strike the earth? I hear helicopters outside... yep--they're black
  • was high so i read the headline as:

    Now your anus moons and stays uncovered

    and i looked back, but luckily it wasnt lol

  • SETI discovery! (Score:2, Informative)

    by dronkert ( 820667 )
    Known by all /.ers for seti@home [berkeley.edu], it was the SETI Institute [seti.org] that made the discovery in cooperation with NASA.
  • As technoloy gets better, we are discovering more and more moons around the planets in our solar system. But, I don't think a good definition of what constitutes a "moon" is out there - after all, we are now capable of detecting small rocks, etc. orbiting around bodies and depending on how small you define a moon to be, there are essentially an infinite number of moons around every planet (just like there are essentially an infinite number of "planets" orbiting the sun. Witness the recent controversy ar
  • and sounds kinda kinky

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