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Space Science

Jupiter's Eleven New Moons 37

Posted by michael from the rock-paper-scissors dept.
nautical9 writes "Yahoo is reporting that scientists have discovered 11 new moons orbiting around Jupiter, bringing the total to 39. They were discovered using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope and one of the largest digital imaging cameras in the world. Unfortunately, very little is known about them at this point other than that they're relatively small (compared to the previously known ones), and they all have irregular orbits."
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Jupiter's Eleven New Moons More

Jupiter's Eleven New Moons

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  • Shoemaker (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ObviousGuy ( 578567 )
    Could these be remnants of Jupiter's surface having been ejected by the impact of the Shoemaker comet?

    Very interesting. Would have been better with better pics, though.

    • Re:Shoemaker (Score:4, Informative)

      by Gogo Dodo ( 129808 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @04:18AM (#3535652)
      Jupiter is a gas giant, there really isn't a "surface" per se. There may be a molten core in the center, but Shoemaker-Levy wasn't that big of a comet to eject matter that far out.

      What's more plausable is that these moons are remnants of impacts on other moons. Read the Space.com article on the moons [space.com].

      • There may be a molten core in the center,

        That may be debateable...

        In the book 2001, maybe it was 2010, been a while since I read them, Arthur C. Clarke described there being a large diamond at the center of jupiter, from what i've read in science publications this is not too far fetched considering the amount of carbon in the universe and Jupiters high heat and gravity.
    • Not likely. Schumacher-Levy 9 was very small and hit Jupiter full in the center, instead of hitting it at an angle low enough to knock some material into orbit.
  • Fly me to the moon
    Let me play among the stars
    Let me see what spring is like
    On Jupiter and Mars

    In other words, hold my hand
    In other words, baby kiss me
    Fill my heart with song
    and let me sing forevermore
    You are all I long for
    All I worship and adore

  • To quote: (Score:3, Funny)

    by dimator ( 71399 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @04:29AM (#3535676) Homepage Journal
    To quote someone I don't know, and don't care to look up:

    "The Solar System consists of the Sun, Jupiter, and various other debris"

    • That was Isaac Asimov. I just read him quoted by Arthur C. Clarke in a book of essays called Report on Planet Three. I think the quote was that the solar system "consists of Jupiter plus debris" (taking the sun for granted, of course), though Clarke may have been paraphrasing.
  • What do they mean with "excentric" or "irregular" orbits? They also mention "long, elliptical orbits" but that's more the opposite of irregular, isn't it?
    • Eccentric, irregular and long, eliptical orbits generally mean that the satellite has been captured by the planet's gravity - i.e. the satellite is an asteroid that passed through Jupiter's gravity field with insufficent velocity to escape.

      Some of these satellites may develop stable orbits, others are likely to eventually either escape Jupiter's gravity well or fall into the planet. Most of these satellites would cross the orbits of other satellites (the long, elliptical orbits compared to the more stable almost-circular orbits) and these other bodies will have a large effect on the fate of the captured satellite.
    • "What do they mean with "excentric" or "irregular" orbits? They also mention "long, elliptical orbits" but that's more the opposite of irregular, isn't it?"

      Orbiting in the direction opposite to the rotation of the planet and orbiting at an incline relative to the planet and orbiting elliptically. A typical orbit being (per our local prejudice) being somewhat circular as opposed to more elliptical.

      I tend to agree with the conclusions of the researchers that the irregularity of the orbits of some suggests that the objects were trapped by Jupiter's gravity and that they have broken up over time. My initial thought was that Jupiter sucks up an inordinate amount of junk. Asteroids and comets fly by earth with some regularity. It would not surprise me if similar objects flying by Jupiter would get sucked into an orbit on occasion. There has certainly been enough time since the formation of the solar system to have this happen with some degree of regularity.

      The similarities with the other gas giants having much larger numbers of moons and irregular moons(Saturn in particular) suggests that this may be a common attribute of gas giants, based on our extensive sample size of four.

      I wonder how long it will be until these objects completely degrade into smaller bits of debris or perhaps ring material?

      I also wonder how much crap Jupiter/Saturn/Uranus/Neptune have sucked out of the solar system (asteroids, comets, etc.)? I also wonder how much we should be thankful that there are a number of gas giants in our solar system to clean up some of the Kuiper belt visitors and the closer meteorite bits/asteroids in the inner solar system? It is quite possible that we are here to /. about this because Jupiter has taken a few on the chin for us. On the other hand, maybe there would be another planet between Jupiter and Mars if it weren't for Jupiter, reducing the number of asteroids out there.

      Guac-foo, full of speculation and wonder at the cosmos -- billyuns and billyuns of SWAGs this morning.
    • Others have mentioned eccentricity, but an orbit can also be "irregular" by being inclined. Most objects in the solar system orbit in nearly the same plane; a few do not.

  • More detailed reports (Score:2, Informative)

    by choka ( 542297 )
    The story [space.com] on space.com has more details on this.
    Also see the offical offical press release [hawaii.edu] from University of Hawaii.
  • If Jupiter can do it, why can't we? I'd like to see Earth improve its moon count, as we have only one.

    • Re:trend? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @07:40AM (#3536063)
      I'd like to see Earth improve its moon count, as we have only one.

      Actually, we sort of have two. There's an asteroid called Cruithne [queensu.ca] that has a curious orbit around the Earth and Sun...
    • To capture something into orbit, you need to get rid of some of its energy. One way to do that is to use gas drag in the atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere is too small for that to be a viable option. (This tricky probably doesn't work after the solar system forms much anyway.)

      The other route is to collide with a pre-existing object already in orbit. The collision will dissipate energy and let the new moon settle in. Earth, having just one Moon, isn't a good candidate for this technique. Also, our domain of graviational dominance (over the Sun's gravity) is much, much smaller than Jupiter's. So capture is hard for us.
      • Ahh.. so all we need to do is eject California into space (before it falls into the ocean) and then we'll have two moons.
    • Yeah, only one, but the biggest one in relation to the parent planet. We rock! (So to speak.) Not to mention all the artificial ones and Asteroid 3753.
      • (* Yeah, only one, but the biggest one in relation to the parent planet. *)

        Wouldn't Pluto have that distinction?........that is if you can call Pluto a "planet".

        Sounds like the solution then is to bust our moon into many peices. Better do it now before it is colonized, otherwise you might have to deal with angry lawyers and judges.
    • Actually, I prefer to think the "moon" as just our sister planet, making us the only binary planet in our solar system :-)
  • Giving google "jupiter moons" returns some more links to the story.

    Wonder if they're going to get named? Astronomers must be running out of references to Zeus' amorous adventures by now....

    • Re:More links (Score:3, Informative)

      by CheshireCatCO ( 185193 )
      Someone who was on one of the moon-hunting teams worried about that to me about a year ago. I compiled a list of 50 names of nurses and paramours of Jupiter with a simply search, so I'm not quite worried, yet. Another 11 and we'll need to get concerned.
  • It's Jupiter mooning us again!
  • Now most people know that all fo jupiter's moons are named after mortal chicks that Zeus scored with. He was a pretty damn big pimp. He was the Clinton of the Gods, but even he didn't score with 40 mortal womens.... I mean damn 39

  • What about the werewolves? (Score:3, Funny)

    by gewalker ( 57809 ) <Gary.Walker@nOsPAM.AstraDigital.com> on Sunday May 19, 2002 @12:53AM (#3544757)
    With that many moons, Jovian werewolves cannot revert to their non-lupine form except on the rarest of occasions. They probably forget how to change back entirely, probably going years with at a couple of full moons in the sky.

    I think we should establish a charitable organazation dedicated to the plight of the Jovian werewolf, deprived of the right to exist in their original form.

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