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Five New Neptunian moons

Posted by michael on from the rock-paper-scissors dept.

cyclop writes "It's a new time of discoveries in the Solar System. Just when Cassini discovered two news moons on Saturn, old Earth-based astronomy strikes back by revealing five small bodies around Neptune. The faint moons seem to have eccentric and inclined orbits, and to have been captured by Neptune."

3 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. From an astronomer by Pi_0's+don't+shower · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ground based astronomy isn't as sexy as space based astronomy, but has one big advantage -- light gathering power. We can build 8-meter (SUBARU and GEMINI), 10-meter (KECK), and in the near future 30 to 50-meter telescopes. The JWST, by comparison, is only 6.5 meters, and that's still 7 years away (at least). It's expensive to get telescopes into orbit, first off, and to send a probe up, well, you only get one look at the system with that! Additionally, launching anything drives the cost up by tens of millions of dollars. Ground based telescopes are easier to service, last virtually forever, and only have the disadvantage of having the atmosphere to fight with. Adaptive optics, and camera technology have significantly advanced in recent years, so that ground based telescopes with adaptive optics have huge advantages over those without it. They haven't caught the space telescopes yet, but the gap is closing. I'm a huge advocate of hubble, chandra and other space-based missions, but what can be accomplished on the ground (such as this) should NOT be overlooked!

  2. Re:Is it worth it? by cyclop · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just hate that kind of reasoning.

    Money spent on science is not wasted. And the less practical is the science, the more I'm sure that money is not wasted.

    I work in science (molecular biology), and I don't do it to help people (although I love if my research can help,of course). I do it primarily because I want to understand the Universe. I do it primarily because I think one of the most important, amazing and noble things humankind can do is trying to understand the universe we have the luck to live within. It is at least as noble as helping the poorest. If not noblest, because we will all die (poor or not poor). But knowledge will last.

    --
    -- Patent no.123456: A way to personalize /. comments with a sig attached to the end.
  3. Re:Is it worth it? by shobadobs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So what exactly do you do to help the world's hungry?