Posted on 02/23/2006 2:55:13 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
The Second Ring-Moon System of Uranus: Discovery and Dynamics
Mark R. Showalter1* and Jack J. Lissauer2
Deep exposures of Uranus taken with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal two small moons and two faint rings. All of them orbit outside of Uranus's previously known (main) ring system but are interior to the large, classical moons. The outer new moon, U XXVI Mab, orbits at roughly twice the radius of the main rings and shares its orbit with a dust ring. The second moon, U XXVII Cupid, orbits just interior to the satellite Belinda. A second ring falls between the orbits of Portia and Rosalind, in a region with no known source bodies. Collectively, these constitute a densely packed, rapidly varying, and possibly unstable dynamical system.
We could put an end to the stupid jokes if we just changed the name of the planet. How does "Urectum" sound?
"Futurama" beat you to that joke by several years:
Fry: Did you build the Smellescope?
Farnsworth: No, I remembered that I'd built one last year. Go ahead. Try it. You'll find that every heavenly body has its own particular scent. Here, I'll point it at Jupiter.
[Fry sniffs.]
Fry: Smells like strawberries.
Farnsworth: Exactly! And now Saturn.
[Fry sniffs.]
Fry: Pine needles. Oh, man, this is great! Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus.
[He laughs.]
Leela: I don't get it.
Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum.
That's where I got it, but you must admit "Urectum" has a nice "ring" to it.
but you must admit "Urectum" has a nice "ring" to it.....sounds like NASCAR terminology.
|
The ultimate colonoscopy.
Either there is a tenth planet or there are only eight.
In fact the planets name is pronounced "YOOR-in-us", but who am I to spoil a joke that was tiresome on the playground
Uranus/Urectum: it would still have a methane atmosphere.
I don't think it would prevent people from repeating old, sophmoric jokes.
...such as "Rectum? Hell, it killed the sumbitch!"
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!
Whew... that was a stealthy one...
you-RAY-nus is the correct pronounciation. Sagan was also wrong about Comet "Hal-lee" (in England, Edmund Halley pronounced it "Hall ee", as in kids in the), among other things.
The writer must have my kind of sense of humor. "Deep exposures of Uranus", geez, why doesn't he just be obvious about it, eh? ;')
"Well, scratch Uranus.
I'm very sorry but I've been an amateur astronomer for 25 years and "u RAY nus" is not the correct pronounciation. You are simply wrong but, as I said, who am I to spoil a childish joke for those who enjoy such things.
I think it's more like eight, nine or many planets. There are untold numbers of Kuiper Belt objects. Pluto is just a very close one, that was found early.
Although Pluto more nearly matches the pattern of KB object, one way to define planets is by roster: everything on a certain canonical list is a planet, everything else is something else, asteroid, comet, KB object, what have you.
BTW, I don't think calling Pluto a KB object means he can't be a planet as well, the sets are not necessarily disjoint.
I like to think of Pluto as the St. Christopher of planets. He was a planet when I was a boy reading "Our Sun and the Worlds Around It" and "Lives of the Saints". I'd like him to remain a planet in my days. I thought it was unkind of the Vatican to remove St. Christopher from the Canon merely because their is no historical evidence that he ever lived. Picky, picky.
All that means is that you've been wrong about it for 25 years. Goodbye.
Cut and run if you want to Braveheart, but the Oxford English Dictionary agrees with me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
