Scientists Discover 62 More Moons Orbiting Saturn, Bringing Total to 145 Moons (buffalonews.com) 33
"Astronomers have discovered 62 new moons orbiting the ringed planet Saturn," reports Space.com.
So while Jupiter remains the largest planet orbiting our sun — and shaped our solar system with its gravitational bulk — nonetheless the New York Times reports that "the fight over which planet has the most moons in its orbit has swung decisively in Saturn's favor." This month, the International Astronomical Union is set to recognize 62 additional moons of Saturn based on a batch of objects discovered by astronomers. The small objects will give Saturn 145 moons — eclipsing Jupiter's total of 95. "They both have many, many moons," said Scott Sheppard, an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. But Saturn "appears to have significantly more," he said, for reasons that are not entirely understood.
The newly discovered moons of Saturn are nothing like the bright object in Earth's night sky. They are irregularly shaped, like potatoes, and no more than one or two miles across. They orbit far from the planet too, between six million and 18 million miles, compared with larger moons, like Titan, that mostly orbit within a million miles of Saturn. Yet these small irregular moons are fascinating in their own right. They are mostly clumped together in groups, and they may be remnants of larger moons [150 miles across] that shattered while orbiting Saturn. [The article suggests later they may have been destroyed by collisions with other moons, or by impacts from asteroids or comets.]
"These moons are pretty key to understanding some of the big questions about the solar system," said Bonnie Buratti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the deputy project scientist on the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter. "They have the fingerprints of events that took place in the early solar system."
The growing number of moons also highlights potential debates over what constitutes a moon. "The simple definition of a moon is that it's an object that orbits a planet," Dr. Sheppard said. An object's size, for the moment, doesn't matter.
The leader of one moon-discovering group told the Times there's "potentially thousands" of moons around Saturn and Jupiter.
And at least a few of the moons are circling Saturn in the opposite direction...
So while Jupiter remains the largest planet orbiting our sun — and shaped our solar system with its gravitational bulk — nonetheless the New York Times reports that "the fight over which planet has the most moons in its orbit has swung decisively in Saturn's favor." This month, the International Astronomical Union is set to recognize 62 additional moons of Saturn based on a batch of objects discovered by astronomers. The small objects will give Saturn 145 moons — eclipsing Jupiter's total of 95. "They both have many, many moons," said Scott Sheppard, an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. But Saturn "appears to have significantly more," he said, for reasons that are not entirely understood.
The newly discovered moons of Saturn are nothing like the bright object in Earth's night sky. They are irregularly shaped, like potatoes, and no more than one or two miles across. They orbit far from the planet too, between six million and 18 million miles, compared with larger moons, like Titan, that mostly orbit within a million miles of Saturn. Yet these small irregular moons are fascinating in their own right. They are mostly clumped together in groups, and they may be remnants of larger moons [150 miles across] that shattered while orbiting Saturn. [The article suggests later they may have been destroyed by collisions with other moons, or by impacts from asteroids or comets.]
"These moons are pretty key to understanding some of the big questions about the solar system," said Bonnie Buratti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the deputy project scientist on the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter. "They have the fingerprints of events that took place in the early solar system."
The growing number of moons also highlights potential debates over what constitutes a moon. "The simple definition of a moon is that it's an object that orbits a planet," Dr. Sheppard said. An object's size, for the moment, doesn't matter.
The leader of one moon-discovering group told the Times there's "potentially thousands" of moons around Saturn and Jupiter.
And at least a few of the moons are circling Saturn in the opposite direction...
irregular moons? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't that just a big asteroid orbiting saturn?
That's a good question. What exactly constitutes a "moon" and not just a random chuck of rock?
Re: (Score:3)
Re:irregular moons? (Score:4, Interesting)
That's a good question. What exactly constitutes a "moon" and not just a random chuck of rock?
It just has to orbit a celestial body to be considered a moon. Fun fact people didn't call these moons, in the past, they called them natural satellites so as to not confuse it with The Moon. But then when the Russians launched an actual satellite things started be more confusing.
Anyway there's no lower limit or upper limit formally defined.
Re: (Score:2)
That's a good question. What exactly constitutes a "moon" and not just a random chuck of rock?
It just has to orbit a celestial body to be considered a moon. Fun fact people didn't call these moons, in the past, they called them natural satellites so as to not confuse it with The Moon. But then when the Russians launched an actual satellite things started be more confusing.
Anyway there's no lower limit or upper limit formally defined.
Correct on all points [universetoday.com]. There is even the possibility of a moonmoon [livescience.com], not to be confused with moon moon [hitc.com].
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
They demoted Pluto on far less - there was only going to be one or two new planets. You'd think they'd come up with a differentiation for moon and moonlet/orbiting asteroid.
Re: irregular moons? (Score:3)
Pluto was demoted when other objects, some larger than Pluto, were found as part of what we now know as the Kuyper Belt. Were we going to have them all classified as planets?
IIUC, the astronomical union added the prerequisite "must have cleared its orbit from other [objects]" and as such, Pluto got demoted.
I would think a new definition of 'moon' isn't too far away. I mean, are we going to call every pebble in the rings that can be resolved a moon, too?
As for the irregular moons: objects only become spheric
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
BMI - basic moon index.
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Particulate moons (Score:2)
Uranus (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
And what about Uranus?
Wipe yourself better or grab that bidet and have at it.
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And what about Uranus?
Wipe yourself better or grab that bidet and have at it.
I've learned from listening to the radio on a recent car trip that I should be using Lume (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw7cgxPQVSU) on my butt! You should use it on Uranus! It's always educational out there!
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Oblig: (Score:1)
"That's no moon"
- scientists embattled - (Score:2)
"the fight over which planet has the most moons in its orbit" ?
So, I'm imagining a gaggle of the great living astronomers in a heated argument over 'the most moons'. Voices raised, fists raised, these old and grey PhDs carry on like 8th graders fighting over a foul ball call. I see some red angry faces among them; one or two are near a heart attack.
Fortunately Slashdot readers are adults and appreciate the presentation of the new numbers without undue emotion. Now we can all rest easy. Until the next survey
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Meanwhile, observing the silly conversation with an amused smile, Jupiter's attention returns to the game.
He draws two cards, and grins at Saturn, announcing, "I'll see your three moons and raise you two!"
Neptune looks on glumly and folds, giving up the moon he'd already bet, while Pluto simply laughs like a maniac.
It was already bad.. (Score:2)
When it only had six CPUs, 2 video chips and 5 memory pools.
But now that sega added 145 extra components to it, it must be pretty terrible to program for.
Looks like Saturn has a clutter issue... (Score:1)
162 moons is too many! Marie Kondo consult STAT!
Question (Score:2)
"The simple definition of a moon is that it's an object that orbits a planet,"
So how many moons does the Earth have then?
Re: (Score:2)
No. The definition is a natural object that orbits a planet, previously referred to "natural satellites". I've not heard of more than one.
Dwarfish (Score:2)
Maybe these smaller moons should be called Dwarf Moons. Or does the bully IAU only pick on Pluto for its size?
Let's start a betting pool (Score:2)
How long do you think it'll be before some idiot decides to define what a moon is and screws it up so badly that the Earth's moon is no longer classified as such.
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The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are more at threat of becoming non-moons (dwarf moons? moonlets?). Both are irregular, and Deimos is only 12 km / 8 miles across.
Saturns rings. (Score:2)
How long before they're counting every particle of dust in Saturn's rings as a moon?
Oblig (Score:1)
Oh boy! (Score:1)
We found a chunk of ice you could toss into a glass of Coke out there!
MOOOOON!
A spec of dust you need a microscope to see.
MOOOOON!
Hey! What's Barry's ass doing out there?
MOOOOON!
Wait! Gary just stuck the instrument up his ass!
Attempt no landing there... (Score:2)
I saw a name, I saw a subject, I saw a location... (Score:2)
... and immediately thought of Enya. Funny how the brain works, sometimes. Or in my case, works sometimes.
one's moon is another man's pebble (Score:2)
What's the difference between a moon and some pebble in the rings?