New Moon for Uranus

Spudley writes "With a headline that is just begging for puns, the BBC has a story about a new moon that has been discovered around Uranus. I wonder if this one will turn out to be a old rocket engine too?"

Comments

That's no small moon...

[merlyn]

"... it's a Space Station!"

Klingons around Uranus.

[Picass0]

Thank god Uranus has never been invaded!!!

Futurama

[Anonymous Coward]

Come to think about it, naming a planet uranus was probably not one of the brightest events.

In the year 2869 Uranus has been renamed due to all the bad jokes about it. Now its Urectum.

It has rings too

[Caractacus Potts]

According to the picture provided, this moon actually has its own set of rings. It's almost unbelievable!

In Utter Trepidation...

[Locke!Erasmus]

I'm going to make the first post that is serious on this topic...

I think it's great that they've found another moon in the outer solar system. It must be rather complicated keeping track of all the objects that are out there, and especially determining whether an object is a brand-new discovery or an old one.

Do they have some kind of database or repository of this information? Perhaps it is available on the web or something. I would be most obliged if someone would point the way.

Re:In Utter Trepidation...

[foolish]

There are several astro-databases, though the one I am most familar with is the MPC, which can be found at:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html

IIRC, the ESA, NASA and other space agencies also have their own DBs for this information, though they usually propigate the information out once they have enough confirmed sightings.... that's the real rub, there are sooo many planetoids in the KB, the main belt and NEOrbits that nailing down orbits for these faint objects is *really* tricky.

Unfortunately I am not in a good area for any sort of observations. I hope the current window for the Extra-solar planet observation folks get enough volunteers, /. certainly has had enough articles on it.

--foolish

Re:In Utter Trepidation...

[CheshireCatCO]

Just to toss in another good site, I'm very partial to:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/

As you can no doubt tell, it's maintained by JPL, so it has pretty much the best orbital and physical data around.

Re:FYI

[Anonymous Coward]

So, more like Urine-us?

Missing for a few months?

[Dave9876]

It was first seen in August 2001, but quickly lost amid the glare from Uranus.

That could be used in soo many ways, but I won't go there.

correct pronuciation

[solferino]

uranus is a pun free zone
(or at least a less obvious target)
if you pronounce it correctly

u rhymes with goo, to
ra rhymes with ma, ha
nus rhymes with puss

u - ra - nus

Re:correct pronuciation

[CheshireCatCO]

Correct according to whom?
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/u/uranus.h tml
It's said the way that leads to the juvenile jokes. Quite a few planetary scientists have veered away from this pronounciation, but that doesn't make it correct. Just widely mispronounced.

Re:correct pronuciation

[solferino]

thanks for yr reply

i checked the page you referred to and i concede that it (and many more authorative references) indicate such a pronunciation

i am not a classics scholar, however several references to the proper pronunciation of Ouranus (the greek god of the sky) indicate the pronunciation i gave

firstly here is a good link to a page which gives the proper latin and old greek pronunciation of the entities whom the planets were named after

they give the latin pronuciation :

VRANVS oor-AH-nuss

and the old greek pronunciation

OURANOS (Ouranos)
oar-AH-noss, oor-AH-noss

note that the last sylable changed from an 'o' sound to a 'u' sound, however the stressed middle vowel is an ah in both cases

one thing that i did not stress in my first post is that there should be no 'y' sound at the beginning of the word either

secondly here is a more scholarly page which shows the pronunciation of ouranos (search page for uranus, and page works best if you have proper greek fonts installed)

they indicate an IPA pronunciation of :

[ura`nos]

so yes, in summary you could argue that the common modern pronunciation is correct even if it has changed from the way the ancient romans and greeks pronounced the word

however, i feel that it is an unfortunate pronunciation and i prefer the old one - i realise that there can never be a language police, nor would i welcome one, but i do feel that it is good for people to know that there is an alternative pronunciation to the common modern one which can sound better and is more in touch with the word's roots

i feel that the present situation arose from the fact that there was very little usage of the word for many centuries until it suddenly got shot back into prominence with the naming of a major planet after it - and unfortunately people pronounced it as they read it and not from hearing it

Re:correct pronuciation

[CheshireCatCO]

Actually... it does. Astronomers mispronounce a lot of words. (Charon, anyone? Or Io?) I'd know. I am an astronomer. There are a few astronomers out there who make it a minor crusade to try to get the community to recognize the correct pronounciations (Guy Consolmagno comes to mind), but most astronomers don't care. They say things the way they learned them, even knowing it's not the correct pronounciation.

Object around Uranus

[cyberchondriac]

Hmm.. kinda small for a moon, more like an asteroid. Aha !! It's a Hemorrhoid !!

Re:oh man. The punsters are gonna have a field day

[Tablizer]

naming a planet uranus was probably not one of the brightest events [because of the jokes]

Who knows, perhaps in some languages "Neptune" means "f*ck your mother". And "Earth" will get you deported.

Escaping the escape sequence

[Tablizer]

That "ring" you see in the picture is the typical circle used to indicate the interesting feature.

That brings up an interesting question: how do you mark an actual ring, such as a ring nebula or a planet ring?

Arrows? Okay, but what if the object actually looks like a ring and an arrow together?

A Rectangle? Okay, but what if. Nevermind. If we find a nebula shaped like a ring + arrow + rectangle, then we have far bigger concerns than how to point to it.

old rocket engine

[Alsee]

I wonder if this one will turn out to be a old rocket engine too?

That would be quite a discovery, there's no way it's one of ours.

-

There's a ring around Uranus !

[The Famous Druid]

'twas discovered some years ago, and it's my
favourite astronomical fact.

Re:1002 Ace Spoddesy

[BluBrick]

Well done, AC. That's clever!

c'mon, is this a slow day?

[geekoid]

it is Klingons!

or
thats no moon, its a...wait a minute, yeah, it's a moon.

Re:Life on Pluto?

[tomhudson]

Sure there's life on Pluto - fleas!

Give the old hound a bath once in a while!.