Posted on 12/24/2005 7:02:26 PM PST by neverdem
Telescope confirms likelihood of lunar collisions in 500,000 years
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope say they have discovered two tiny new moons and two faint new rings spinning around the planet Uranus. The finds bring the current tallies for the remote blue world to more than two dozen moons and 13 rings.
The scientists said Hubble images have also confirmed instabilities in the Uranian system that could eventually lead to lunar collisions.
"The destruction and accumulation of moons and rings is very exciting," said Jack Lissauer of the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View, a principal investigator on the project. "It's showing how this system is very rapidly evolving and showing that the processes which led to the formation of the planets (are) still ongoing today."
Following scientific tradition, the discoverers named the two new moons after Shakespearean characters. One is Mab, the fairy queen in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The other is Cupid, the Roman god of love, who appears in one of the bard's lesser-known plays, "Timon of Athens."
Since many of Uranus' other moons were named for the likes of Juliet, Portia, Desdemona and Bianca, "we liked the idea of tiny Cupid orbiting among Shakespeare's greatest lovers," said the new moons' co-discoverer, Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View.
Uranus is the third-largest planet and the seventh from the sun. About 32,000 miles in diameter, it orbits 1.78 billion miles from the solar system's center, between the orbits of Saturn and Neptune.
It was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel, who named it Georgium Sidus (Georgian Planet) after Britain's King George III. The name Uranus, after an early Greek god of the heavens, didn't come into routine use until 1850.
The planet's five largest moons were discovered by Herschel and...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Now some are staring at Uranus. So, why did the libs get so upset about a spying Bush?
Yeah. They're a little too fond of sending probes to Uranus. And they always want to be the first man on the moon.
ping
And to you, sir!
Finally, an explanation for Brown 25 that is understandable.
Is that the cause of the term "Duck and cover" ??
I told you not to call me here...
Urmotherinlaw is a different thread.
Because they could. Most libs wouldn't care about someone staring at Uranus.
"I told you not to call me here..."
Not to worry, I used the cone of silence.
hahaha!
I'm so confuuuused. Is that my bedroom over there? Who are you? Where ARE my shoes? Do I belong here? Can you please call my mother for me?
;-)
Wrong Cold War comedy. Catch up willya?! ;)
The blue eagle flies at dawn.
...and the parakeet trills farewell.
Great primeval God of the Sky. Born of Gaia, the Earth, he covered the world in the form of a vast bronze dome and ruled over everything.
You are talking about a force so miniscule it's measured in -10s to the 1000's. My wife jumping off the bottom step would have more effect on the earth's plates.
Finally, an explanation for Brown 25 that is understandable.
What was the name of that movie that had "Brown 25" in it. Groove Tube or something like that?
I knew it! They are pushing their homosexual agenda there!
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