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This news is slightly old, as three new moons were discovered in 2023, one orbiting Uranus, and two orbiting Neptune. These moons are tiny compared to Earth's moons, but will allow scientists to learn more about how the early solar system formed. @sjastro and @Astrophile might find this stuff interesting, as well as myself, cos space was my favorite subject as a kid and got me into science. Article: New moons of Uranus and Neptune announced
Here is the article's summary, for those who only have a few seconds. Also, to convert kilometers into miles, multiply the km value by 0.62:
The Carnegie Science article published on February 23, 2024, announces the discovery of three new moons in our Solar System: one around Uranus and two around Neptune. The discoveries were made using ground-based telescopes, specifically the Magellan Telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and the Subaru telescope in Hawaii.
The new Uranian moon, provisionally named S/2023 U1, is likely the smallest of Uranus' moons, with a diameter of only 8 kilometers. It takes approximately 680 days to orbit around Uranus and was first detected on November 4, 2023. The new Neptunian moons, provisionally named S/2021 N1 and S/2002 N5, have diameters of about 14 kilometers and 23 kilometers, respectively. They take almost 27 years and nearly 9 years to orbit Neptune, respectively.
Scott S. Sheppard of Carnegie Science made the initial discovery of S/2023 U1 using Magellan and later confirmed its existence in older images. He also discovered one of the Neptunian moons using the Magellan Telescope, while the other was found with the Subaru telescope in collaboration with David Tholen, Chad Trujillo, and Patryk Sofia Lykawa.
The discovery of these moons required special image processing techniques to reveal their faintness. Follow-up observations at various telescopes were essential for determining their orbits and confirming their existence. Both Neptunian moons required observing time under ultra-pristine conditions at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and Gemini Observatory's 8-meter telescope.
The discovery of these new moons brings the total number of known moons for Uranus to 28 and Neptune to 15. They all have distant, eccentric, and inclined orbits, suggesting they were captured by the planets during or shortly after their formation from the ring of dust and debris surrounding the Sun.
The discovery of these new moons, along with previous studies, indicates that there are dynamical orbital groupings of outer moons around Uranus and Neptune. These groupings suggest once larger parent moons have been broken apart by past collisions, leaving the broken fragments behind in similar orbits as the original larger moon.
The discovery likely completes the inventories of Uranus and Neptune's moons down to between 8 and 14 kilometers in size. In comparison, Jupiter is complete to moons of about 2 kilometers, while Saturn is complete to moons of about 3 kilometers in size. These discoveries help astronomers better understand the history of our Solar System and provide new insights into the tumultuous early years of its formation.
Here is the article's summary, for those who only have a few seconds. Also, to convert kilometers into miles, multiply the km value by 0.62:
The Carnegie Science article published on February 23, 2024, announces the discovery of three new moons in our Solar System: one around Uranus and two around Neptune. The discoveries were made using ground-based telescopes, specifically the Magellan Telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and the Subaru telescope in Hawaii.
The new Uranian moon, provisionally named S/2023 U1, is likely the smallest of Uranus' moons, with a diameter of only 8 kilometers. It takes approximately 680 days to orbit around Uranus and was first detected on November 4, 2023. The new Neptunian moons, provisionally named S/2021 N1 and S/2002 N5, have diameters of about 14 kilometers and 23 kilometers, respectively. They take almost 27 years and nearly 9 years to orbit Neptune, respectively.
Scott S. Sheppard of Carnegie Science made the initial discovery of S/2023 U1 using Magellan and later confirmed its existence in older images. He also discovered one of the Neptunian moons using the Magellan Telescope, while the other was found with the Subaru telescope in collaboration with David Tholen, Chad Trujillo, and Patryk Sofia Lykawa.
The discovery of these moons required special image processing techniques to reveal their faintness. Follow-up observations at various telescopes were essential for determining their orbits and confirming their existence. Both Neptunian moons required observing time under ultra-pristine conditions at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and Gemini Observatory's 8-meter telescope.
The discovery of these new moons brings the total number of known moons for Uranus to 28 and Neptune to 15. They all have distant, eccentric, and inclined orbits, suggesting they were captured by the planets during or shortly after their formation from the ring of dust and debris surrounding the Sun.
The discovery of these new moons, along with previous studies, indicates that there are dynamical orbital groupings of outer moons around Uranus and Neptune. These groupings suggest once larger parent moons have been broken apart by past collisions, leaving the broken fragments behind in similar orbits as the original larger moon.
The discovery likely completes the inventories of Uranus and Neptune's moons down to between 8 and 14 kilometers in size. In comparison, Jupiter is complete to moons of about 2 kilometers, while Saturn is complete to moons of about 3 kilometers in size. These discoveries help astronomers better understand the history of our Solar System and provide new insights into the tumultuous early years of its formation.
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