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Oh, you meant Pluto... |
Posted on 10/31/2005 6:22:32 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BALTIMORE - Pluto has three moons, not one, new images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest. Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978.
The new moons, more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter, were spotted by Hubble in May.
While the observations have to be confirmed, members of the team that discovered the satellites said Monday they felt confident about their data.
"Pluto and Charon are not alone, they have two neighbors," said Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Follow-up observations by the Hubble are planned in February. If they are confirmed, the International Astronomical Union will consider names for the objects.
Earlier this month another group of astronomers, who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system, also said that body had a moon. (Whether the group actually discovered a new planet has not been confirmed.)
Both Pluto and the new, so-called planet are found in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. In fact, about a fifth of the objects observed in the region have been found to have satellites, and the percentage could grow as more are found, said Keith Noll, an astronomer at the Baltimore-based Space Telescope Science Institute. The institute coordinates use of the orbiting telescope, but Noll wasn't part of the Pluto team. He believes Pluto team's finding is convincing.
Weaver said Pluto would be the first Kuiper belt object found to have multiple satellites. Depending on how reflective the surface of the moons are, the newly found moons are estimated to be between 30 and 100 miles across, he said.
Further observations of Pluto and the two new bodies will help astronomers more accurately determine the mass and density of Pluto and its large moon Charon, said team member Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
The jury is still out on the impact additional moons will have on the ongoing debate over whether Pluto is actually a planet.
While having a moon is a not a criteria — Mercury and Venus are moonless — having more can't hurt, Stern said.
"Just on a visceral level, the fact that Pluto has a whole suite of companions will make some people feel better," Stern said.
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On the Net:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2005/19
http://www.boulder.swri.edu/plutonews
We now have cheap disposable satellites. For what it costs us to send men up to repair Hubble, we can send up better satellites that do a better job. It's a matter of economy. Throw the old one away because it is cheaper to buy a new one than repair the old one. It is sad to see it go though.
Are there any moons that have moons?
I just signed up tonight, but I would like to be added to your ping list, please.
Still cannot see in the UV no matter how big. You need a space platform for that. Hubble is very much needed.
And your point is?
You want different platforms for different spectra. One, the downlinks are already huge and two, you can point different platforms in different directions at the same time.
Where? I sure haven't ever seen one. Also don't forget the expense of a launch vehicle.
For what it costs us to send men up to repair Hubble, we can send up better satellites that do a better job.
Not a chance.
Throw the old one away because it is cheaper to buy a new one than repair the old one.
Nope.
It is sad to see it go though.
Indeed. We will prob not see the like in our lifetimes again. Nor the capability.
How about putting one on the moon?
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Oh, you meant Pluto... |
And here's a story about 3 other space telescope satellites (not mentioned in my previous post) working in tandem to tease out a hidden neutron star.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050715070053.htm
And another one about NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051101223708.htm
Do you mean the Stanford array?
I'm of the opinion that even when our observatories and massive scientific instruments become obsolete, they should most empathatically not be destroyed, but be preserved as tourist attractions and the like for future generations to appreciate.
Bump, a mirror is a mirror is a mirror, gong from memory, but I believe Hubble's mirror took years and years and years to grind and polish, cost over 1 billion dollars, I do not think the USA will put anything (optical) as good as Hubble up in space for a long long time.
But just about the same time our government lets Hubble burn up in the atmosphere the Chicoms will be launching their space telescope, not as capable as Hubble but maybe the Chicoms will let us use it from time to time. It is sad to watch Red Chinese over take us in space.
The shuttle fleet can not finish the (worthless, pc) space station to many missions to few shuttles, but the billions of dollars invested in Hubble can be saved by one mission. It's crazy not to fly that one mission.
While I have no doubt that you are correct since you are in the industry, this is what the general public is being told. This is what the space shows tell us.
This Day In History: Houdini Is Dead October 31, 1926
History Channel.com | October 31, 1926 | History Channel.com
Posted on 10/30/2005 11:01:54 PM PST by mdittmar
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512414/posts
NASA's mission to Pluto is coming up. Is is powered by plutonium. When they send a mission to Neptune, is it powered by neptunium?
How about Proserpine (Greek name Persephone) for the more distant moon? She was the gal Pluto (Hades) kidnapped. She lives in the underworld in the winter and comes back to earth each spring.
That leaves the other moon. How about Cerberus, after the dog that guards the underworld?
Sounds good to me!
Pluto and its moons formed separately, and wandered together (capture rooooools!).Pluto Hit By Twin to Create Moon, Study SuggestsPluto might have been hit long ago by a virtual twin in a collision that created the ninth planet's moon Charon, according to a new computer simulation... Now Canup has turned her attention to the Pluto-Charon system, for which other theorists proposed a similar impact solution in the 1980s. Until now, however, no models of the suspected Pluto collision have successfully created Charon. The most likely alternative is that Pluto captured Charon, just as some small moons of Saturn and Jupiter are thought to have lured into orbit.
by Robert Roy Britt
27 January 2005
Must be near Uranus.
But, Uranus has, what, nine?
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