Posted on 07/04/2018 12:21:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The researchers report that they were studying the planet's rings, which are collectively called Eta, and discovered that they had an oddly shaped orbit -- not round or even circular. Instead, they describe it as sort of triangular. More study showed that the odd orbit of the rings was due to gravitational pull from Cressida -- one of the planet's moons. The gravitational impact is exaggerated, they note, due to the moon keeping pace with the orbit of the planet. The particles in the ring, on the other hand, move faster than the moon. This results in the moon tugging on the ring at as it passes by, causing the odd orbital shape. The tug exerted by the moon on the rings allowed the team to deduce its mass. They found that it is around 1/300,000th that of our own moon. Also, it has only 86 percent of the density of water, which indicates it is porous.
In studying the orbits of the moons, the researchers found that Cressida is on a path that will cause it to collide with another moon called Desdemona, which currently moves in an orbit just 900 kilometers from Cressida's. The gravity of Cressida is slowly pulling them closer together and will cause them to crash into one another in approximately 1 million years. They also found the same to be true for Cupid and Belinda, which will collide sometime later.
The researchers note that material in the inner rings around Uranus appears likely to be the remnants of other moons that were destroyed when they collided.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
LOL.
I laughed, then went to a different room and made sure she'd left for work.
Note: this topic is from . The laughter never stops, until it does.
The researchers note that material in the inner rings around Uranus appears likely to be the remnants of other moons that were destroyed when they collided.
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One of the best songs I ever heard.
####################
Cassiopeia
Sara Bareilles
Come in close now, it’s time to tell a story
Long ago and so many years before we
Ever were, ever dreamed we even could be
There was her and her very first heartbeat
All alone in the corner of the night sky
Spiral bones of a supernova starlight
Fell in love with another burning bright she
Dreamed of a way to ignite she said,
Tonight
Come on, come on collide
Break me to pieces, I
I think you’re just like heaven why
Come on, come on collide
Let’s see what a fire feels like
I bet it’s just like heaven
Just like heaven
Just like heaven
Such a shame
nowhere near, even the near mist light years away
From the hope of being sun-kissed anchored home
in her interstellar sea but, poor lonely Cassiopeia
So she sighs and she burns with desperation
Learns to cry over love of constellations
Then the spark from a star shooting too close
They both smiled what a day to explode, she said
Tonight
Come on, come on collide
Break me to pieces, I
I think you’re just like heaven why
Come on, come on collide
Let’s see what a fire feels like
I bet it’s just like heaven
Just like heaven
Just like heaven
Long ago in a sky built before us
A supernova grew up to be stardust
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