Four New Moons For Saturn

shyam writes: "An international team of eight "satellite hunters," astronomers who pluck tiny specks of light out of the distant solar system, has discovered four new outer moons of Saturn orbiting at least 15 million kilometers (more than 9 million miles) from the surface of the giant planet. The discovery gives Saturn a total of 22 known moons, surpassing the 21 orbiting Uranus. Nothing is known about the four new moons except for their brightness. Estimates of their size -- between 10 and 50 kilometers (6-30 miles) across -- are based on assumptions of their reflectivity. Observed from Earth-bound observatories, the moons appear as faint dots of light moving around the planet. ( [Full] article)."

Comments

0.1 AU et al.

[RobertGraham]

The cool thing about these moons is that they are really far away from Saturn. Mercury is is only 36-million miles from the Sun, which means it is only 4 times as far from the Sun as these moons are from Saturn (9-million miles).

On the other hand, this points to the continuing problem in astronomy that the more things we discover, the harder it becomes to clearly classify them. It's the dimpled chad of the solar system. We aren't quite sure if Pluto is a Kuyper object or a planet. It probably isn't going to be clear whether these objects are true "moons" or simply temporarily captured astroids. I'm sure we'll see more exact measurements and simulations that will attempt to determine if their orbits are stable.

New moons

[Mike Schiraldi]

Just as long as none of these new moons are black 1x4x9 rectangular solids...

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Re:Asteroid vs. Moon

[localroger]

What does an asteroid need to do to be officially declared a "moon"? Maintain an eliptical or circular orbit around a planet?

Yep.

And no, they may not remain "moons" forever, in which case they would be reclassified. This usage has been pretty consistent since I started reading about such things, oh, in the mid-1970's.

It is by no means clear that any of the outer planet moons were formed in their current orbits. In fact, considering some of the recent work being done on the Rare Earth hypothesis, it seems likely that any small solid body near a gas giant probably came there from somewhere else.

It is also considered as near to certain as any of these things ever get that Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids; yet they are definitely considered moons of Mars.

That's no moon.

[Aash]

It's a space station.

2001

[Amigori]

Dave: HAL, what moon is that?

HAL: That is not a moon, Dave.

Dave: What is it then, HAL?

HAL: It is a small meteor that has estabilshed an orbit around Saturn.

Dave: But how can astronomers see it from Earth, HAL?

HAL: The surface has been covered with AOL CDs, Dave.

Dave: Incredible! How did they get here, HAL?

HAL: Once AOL merged with Time Warner, the federal government sued AOLTW for monopolizing the space available in landfills and issued a federal order to clean the landfills. With AOL's knowledge of computer systems and TW's knowledge of satellite systems, they launched several satellites filled with AOL CDs. The payloads merged between the Earth and the Moon. Then used the "Slingshot Effect" to hurl itself into deep space.

Dave: Similar to how we arrived here.

HAL: Correct, Dave. But the CDs came too close to Saturn and were placed in an orbit around Saturn.

Dave: Ok HAL, thanks.

HAL: You're welcome, Dave

Had to say it...

[Mike Schiraldi]

The discovery gives Saturn a total of 22 known moons, surpassing the 21 orbiting Uranus

Uranus immediately called for a hand recount.

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