Neptune - New Moon Discovered

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by Mysterion, Jul 15, 2013.

  1. Mysterion

    Mysterion Vice Admiral Admiral

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  2. Sir Rhosis

    Sir Rhosis Commodore Commodore

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    Thanks for the link. How small can an object be and still be considered a "moon.?"

    Sir Rhosis
     
  3. Pavonis

    Pavonis Commodore Commodore

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    I don't think size is a consideration for defining "moon", just its orbit.
     
  4. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    In other words, is it big enough to go to the trouble of naming it, and how many of them are there? (Imagine trying to name every fleck of dust in orbit around Saturn.)
     
  5. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    That's no moon...
     
  6. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Since Pluto's demotion, I've believed there should be some limitations on what could be considered a moon.

    Otherwise, like Metryq said, every rock bigger than a baseball in Saturn's rings could be called a moon.
     
  7. Crazy Eddie

    Crazy Eddie Vice Admiral Admiral

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    "Every rock bigger than a baseball in Saturn's rings" wouldn't show up as a distinct object in a telescope, though, and therefore wouldn't be identified and named and wouldn't be considered a moon.

    It's sorta like the definition of "Island." The cutoff seems to be mostly arbitrary, but a good rule of thumb is that if it's too small to be labeled on a map, it's probably not really an island.

    Significantly, Jupiter has something like 60 moons, but astronomers -- and anyone else, for that matter -- only really care about the four major ones, the rest are just puny little asteroids zipping about in random orbits.
     
  8. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Until we get bigger telescopes or get closer to Saturn ;)
     
  9. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Or someone starts "selling" naming rights to gullible people over the Web for each grain of dust in the rings -- claiming they have a way to track and database all of it. (I vaguely recall something of this sort -- selling naming rights of craters or very low magnitude stars to the public for a fee.)
     
  10. Colonel Midnight

    Colonel Midnight Vice Admiral Admiral

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    IIRC, the general trend (or is it international reg?) is for moons of Neptune to be named after sea gods, etc. Any suggestions out there?

    Cheers,
    -CM-
     
  11. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    I doubt that general audiences will have that in mind. Whatever happened to good ol' "satellite"?

    Bob
     
  12. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Michael Phelps?
     
  13. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    Esther Williams!
     
  14. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    Spongebob Squarepants
     
  15. Mysterion

    Mysterion Vice Admiral Admiral

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    How about stepping away from European/Mediterranean mythology and calling it Tangaroa after the figure in Maori mythology? Enough of the Greeks and Romans, already.

    Wiki link for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangaroa

    Oh, and a "funny" answer I tried to resist, but am typing here anyway: Zissou.
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2013
  16. Noname Given

    Noname Given Admiral Admiral

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    I say they call it: 'Kraken'

    That way if/when it escapes Neptune's obit, the headline will read:

    "Neptune has released the Kraken!":rofl::wtf:;)
     
  17. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You keep kraken jokes like that... and we'll have to keelhaul you the long way, just to show you we mean business!
     
  18. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Now this is a bit more interesting:

    http://www.universetoday.com/103002/uranus-is-being-chased-by-asteroids/
    http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplanets/diamond-oceans-jupiter-uranus.htm
    http://www.spacedaily.com/news/carbon-99d.html

    Uranus was knocked on its side by a massive collsion, and I would not be surprised if these rocks were the result. Being in unstable orbits means that they may be removed if you can get a large enough spacecraft out to it. They may just be diamond rich. A diamond asteroid in a horseshoe orbit just needs a little more delta vee and off it goes.

    http://cosmoquest.org/forum/showthr...se-Plasma-Thrusters-to-Leave-Our-Solar-System

    I wonder if some of Neptune's new moons are ripe for harvesting as well.
    I guess the can be called ice giants for a different reason too, now.