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New Uranus Moons and Rings Discovered

Posted by Zonk on from the remember-the-children-before-you-post dept.

Patrick Furlong writes "CNN reports that the Hubble Space Telescope has discovered two new moons and two new rings around Uranus. The moons had been imaged by Voyager 2 in 1986 but were not recognized as moons at the time." More from MSNBC, and the official Hubble Site. From the CNN article: "The Hubble images also confirmed the existence of another moon, Perdita, which was first identified in the Voyager 2 pictures but had eluded telescopes ever since. Many moons of Uranus are named after characters in Shakespeare, and these new moons follow suit. Mab is named for Queen Mab, who is the subject of a famous speech by the character Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet.'"

4 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. May I be the first to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    EWWWW!

  2. Re:Gas giants and rings by mookie+da+wookie · · Score: -1, Troll
    Jupiter has thin rings, despite being bombarded a great deal more than Uranus or Saturn, though you'd need to talk to an expert in planetary physics if you have much of a hope of finding out why.

    Easy/ Gravity. Gravitational pull, along with available material is the proven origin of planetary rings. You didn't know that? That's ok, fortunately for you, ignorance is not stupidity.

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    I read part of it all the way through
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    I particularly enjoy rubbing your noses in my towering intellect. On a personal note, I am an avid mustard enthusiast.
  3. Re:Oh crap.... by sloths · · Score: 0, Troll

    The link has been slashdotted.
    Mirror can be found here

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    really 867993
    Karma schkarma
  4. Uranis by zee-mich · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why does Uranis have things floathing around it? Are they, like, white flies? I SMELL RACISM AFOOT!

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    i rock you.