Cassini Confirms New Moon of Saturn 207
pipcorona writes ""In a spectacular kick-off to its first season of prime ring viewing, which began last month, the Cassini spacecraft has confirmed earlier suspicions of an unseen moon hidden in a gap in Saturn's outer A ring. A new image and movie show the new moon and the waves it raises in the surrounding ring material."
"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:5, Funny)
From TFA:
Well, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
Looks like it's up to us...please post your suggestions for the new moon's name below.
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:4, Funny)
I don't know, it's all Greek to me.
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
It's Uranus
*rimshot*
Wrong Saturnian moon. (Score:2)
Re:Wrong Saturnian moon. (Score:2)
*sigh*
That's the POINT. It looks like the Death Star to EVERYONE.
That's why Mimas is cool. That and the fact that if the asteroid that created that crater was a tad larger, it would've destroyed the moon, which is pretty neat to think about.
--
-JC
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:3, Funny)
Why, after all, it rules the waves in Saturn's belt. Britannia rule the waves. Get it?
Besides, what more fitting tribute to the decline of the British Empire than naming an insignificant 7 kilometer wide hunk of rock(or whatever it's made of) after it.
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:1)
Sphere of Fear (Score:5, Funny)
The Killing Ball?
Death Moon?
Giant Hurt Ball?
The Deathdicle?
The reference. (Score:2)
http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsep
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
There's already a Death Star moon: Mimas (Score:2)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
I think characters from 1950s/60s TV shows would be good, and suggest Ranger Bob (from Lassie). However, it might be an idea to reserve certain shows for whole moon/planetary systems, such as an entire Leave it to Beaver-themed solar system.
Missing Option . . . (Score:2)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
It's in the Keeler gap. So name it Keeler. Duh.
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2, Funny)
Let's call her Sheila.
My Favorite Stargate (Score:2)
P575309
(And yes, that is the correct naming convention for Stargate addresses.)
The Fithp are coming (Score:2)
(or Message Bearer)
From Niven & Pournelle's Footfall)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:4, Informative)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:5, Funny)
You can't tell me that doesn't look like goatse. I swear! It does!
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
God, you wacky bastard, you've been reading too much slashdot.
Seriously.
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2, Funny)
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
Thank god I am running firefox and don't have to worry about not having a status bar at the bottom to display where the link REALLY goes to - was afraid you were going to sneak it in
Re:"Name That Moon" Contest (Score:2)
Man, you can rest assured I checked the text of that link several times before clicking on it lest it be another of those unexpected ones that turns out to be the image that shall not be seen.
Not a movie! (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Not a movie! (Score:1)
Re:Not a movie! (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Not a movie! (Score:2)
Re:Not a movie! (Score:2)
Re:Not a movie! (Score:3, Funny)
*Sigh*
Remember when these debates were fun? Now I worry a chick will see me.
Re:Not a movie! (Score:2, Funny)
This is Slashdot. No danger of that.
Re:Not a movie! (Score:2, Informative)
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=movie
Just because something doesn't use a video codec doesn't make it not a movie.
What's so special about a new moon? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not sure where the exact cutoff is. I'd assume anything in the decivolkswagon range would simply be considered as flotsam unworthy of a name, unless somebody wants to try to catalogue everything in the rings! You'd need a lot of mountain dew.
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:2)
Changed for clarity.
Clearly you're mistaken (Score:2)
It's taken careful observation to recognize them, since their average albedo (i.e. brightness) is pretty low. But through a thorough analysis of donut-crumb tracks and the oscillation of the water in the cooler, I can pretty certainly infer their locations making direct visual identification a mere formality.
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:2)
Here in the U.S., the standard unit of measure is number of football fields.
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:1)
Test for grav. pertubation (Score:3, Interesting)
This satellite is actually interesting since it may hold a key on how to retain a gap in the A-ring. It has to do with this small body of a satellite perturbing the neighboring, smaller dusts and removing them from the region effectively.
Somelike that can be studied numerically (n-body problems) to prove the ring's composition, etc. A nice test case for n-body problem.
[I really should be moderating today but...oh well.]
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:2)
Think about all the people that 'buy' a name for a star for their loved ones, or purchase a claim for land or minerals rights on the moon, Mars, or elsewhere? Yes, I have read the international conventions stating no one can own this or that, but is naming something a claim to ownership? Alfred Brooks [alaska.edu] (the late geologist and explorer for the U.S.G.S.), nor his decendants, lay any claim to ownership of the Brooks Range in Arctic Alaska.
I might be inclined to give $100 to h
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:2)
Well, everybody could get something named after them that way.
You know what would be a good business model? Selling people small moons, made to order. You could get them made out of whatever you wanted- say, silver, or gold or steel or marble, although something you could polish w
Re:What's so special about a new moon? (Score:2)
That'd be because the big ones, them being summat easier to spot as they are, have been found already.
So everythings a moon now? (Score:5, Funny)
So how do you draw a distinction between a moon, a natural satellite, asteroids and space junk? You can either say the moon Earth has an asteroid orbiting it... or that Earth has many moons orbiting it, only one of which is large enough to see.
So if I pay the Russian space program to launch my 1kg rock in lower orbit, do I get to name my moon, or will they just name it
S/2005 SR26GC3.14159265357?
Which makes me wonder, have we named or numbered our own moon yet? Can I call shotgun and call it 'fp!'?
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm, I thought the actual name was "the Moon", and Luna a term rarely used to distinguish it from other moons whenever necessary. Why would people rarely use an actual name?
That it's the actual name is as debatable as Sol is the actual name for the Sun, something I also can't really say, even if we have "solar".
I guess both these names can be said to be occasionaly used to personify these celestial bodies though.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Funny)
What's next? Calling the sun something stupid like "Sol"?
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Informative)
Just in case you're not being sarcastic, as our Solar System's planets are actually named after Roman gods, the name for our Sun would be Sol just as Earth is actually called Terra.
For a list of names, see this compilation [nineplanets.org].
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2, Interesting)
And as www.susning.nu says about Terra (sorry, swedish site) 'Terra is a latin noun that means land. On old maps you can see the words like terra ingocnita, which means unknown land'.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, our moon doesn't technically seem to be named anything. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), which many people consider to be the authority on such matters, doesn't seem to have any documents that specify what our moon's name is. Some of their documents use the name Moon with a capital M (eg. "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on Cartographic Cordinates and Rotational Elements of the Planets and Satellites: 2000" http://astrogeology.usgs.g [usgs.gov]
Luna = moon in spanish (Score:2)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:5, Interesting)
The significant thing is this: this moon, how small it is, may regulate the way a gap in the A-ring evolves (or stay clear of smaller rocks),
The effect of the moon's gravity is small, but not small enough to be ignored by the material nearby. Some smart guys can run some numerical analysis to study what the rings are made of, and how a single massive (relatively) body can perturb its surrounding smaller particles.
Easy definition to determine when it's a moon (Score:2)
Ask that question (Bread -> toast) to some people who's IQ lies on the wrong side of the bell curve - you'll be amazed at the looks you'll get.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:5, Funny)
That's not a moon. It's a space station.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
Why is that post funny?! It should be informative!
This post should be funny!
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
The parent being modded informative is an example of irony.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Drag that moon back to Earth (Score:2)
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2)
Yeah, but in this particular context, the statement is correct. OP was talking about the ISS, which *is* a space station.
Re:So everythings a moon now? (Score:2, Informative)
Roche limit? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Roche limit? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Roche limit? (Score:5, Informative)
For very small, rocky moons, the tensile strenght of the rock itselv enabls them to exist nearer than the roche limit. Its nothing extremely longtime-stable, but otoh, the tidal forces on a small moon arent very large.
Also, the roche limit is only a contant (2.xxx*R_bigplanet or so) if the bodies have the same density. If the objects is, for example, a captured iron asteroid, its roche limit can be VERY close to a not very dense saturn.
Re:Roche limit? (Score:2)
Images! (Score:2, Informative)
Map and Images of Titan [arizona.edu] from Hubble Space Telescope
Nasa Titan Photojournal [nasa.gov]
Saturnian Satellite Fact Sheet [nasa.gov]
Phoebe [space.com] best image so far, from Voyager2 in 1981!
Re:Images! (Score:2, Interesting)
Good use of science money (Score:3, Insightful)
You're off topic, and stupid. too (Score:2, Troll)
On the other hand, your State Board of Education wants you to really THINK about where you came from, and not simply accept the implausible idea that God did it in six days nor the unlikely explanation that it just happened, and kept on just happening, for billions of years. They want you to question your assumptions, and to know what you're taking on faith.
You choose to put your faith in Isaac Asimov. Fine - you get the answe
Re:You're off topic, and stupid. too (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You're off topic, and stupid. too (Score:2)
Finding a new one, and studying the effects of it on solar and planetary dynamics? Using it to test solutions of n-body problems? Exploring our world, just because? *Great* use of my tax dollars. More, please.
Interesting that... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Interesting that... (Score:2)
Footfall! [amazon.com]
Doug
thanks (Score:2)
I was just going to post the same question. Image here [nasa.gov], for the curious.
Re:Why asymetric? (Score:4, Informative)
I'd avoid the word "turning" because it suggests a solid object. The rings are anything but solid.
There are other ways to make asymmetries in these wakes. If the moon isn't well-centered in the gap (although it isn't clear why it wouldn't be) or has a significant orbital eccentricity, you'll get asymmetry as well.
That's not a moon! That's a... (Score:3, Insightful)
In space no one can see your color? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:In space no one can see your color? (Score:5, Interesting)
Your friend Bob is perched in his chair on the other side.
Your camera's all set up and ready to snap a picture. Just when you're about to snap, you realize that the nearest streetlight is three miles to Bob's left. Seeing that the Thames isn't a sneeze's distance across, you know that the dinky flash on your camera is pretty useless.
You whip out your trusty imaging spectrometer camera lens and line up the shot with Bob again. Bob's giving off some good x-ray emissions, and those come across just fine.
You could've used a really, really awesome lens and captured a bad photo of Bob--he still reflects some light, though it's a ridiculously small amount--but the IR lens gave you a more descriptive picture of Bob. Why? Mr Bob the Planet Man doesn't give off his own visible light, but he certainly emits x-rays on his own.
This scales higher:
In this new-but-similar scenario, you're flying over England. You're trying to take a picture of Bob and his lazy ass, but all you can see, no matter how much light you shine down onto the city below, are the lights from the buildings, bridges, and streetlamps. There's just too much noise to find ol' Bob in that galaxy of lumens.
You've got all these lights shining on Bob, but unlike the first scenario, there's
The universe is a dark place, but sometimes it can be TOO bright! It's a good thing I remembered a towel!
Re:In space no one can see your color? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:In space no one can see your color? (Score:3, Informative)
They DO send color cameras into space. After a fashion. You have surely seen the color images taken by Cassini's ISS instrument already, so you know that it is possible. To do this, they put various filters in place and expose the CCD to take the image. The colors are then combined (with extreme love and care to get accurate color, in many cases) to make a color image. However, this clearly takes at least three times the exposur
the rocks of the rings (Score:2)
The name (Score:2, Funny)
uh (Score:2)
Shepherd moon (Score:2)
Re:3 Simple Suggestions for Slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)
What are you on? That would make
1. If you need images, post a link. If you don't have your own webserver or atleast host space to put images on, please hand back your
2. Emoticons are plaque of messageboards. I want to strangle someone each time I use MSN after fresh install and haven't turned them off. What ever happened to the good old smileys?
3. Ok, you just have to be trolling...
Re:Does anyone else find that the slightest bit od (Score:2)
Would you not expect the ripples to be behind the moon's direction of motion?
slashnik
Re:Does anyone else find that the slightest bit od (Score:2)
It's all about Kepler's third law.
Re:Does anyone else find that the slightest bit od (Score:2)
Re:Does anyone else find that the slightest bit od (Score:2)
However, the ripples don't build up in time because they have a lot of time to go before they re-encounter the moon. In that time, the particles suffer copious collisions and the ripples tend to dam