Astronomers Confirm 11 More Moons for Jupiter

Reuters ^ | May 16, 2002 | Reuters

[Fish out of Water]

*Index Bump

[End Times Sentinel]

How large does a satellite have to be to be considered a “moon” or is that just a common phrase that doesn’t have an actual astronomical definition?

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[longshadow]

space debris bump!

[grimalkin]

From what I've read, the only difference between a small moon and an asteroid is what they are bound to by gravity. Perhaps someone else will have further info.

[VadeRetro]

When they finally count them up, Jupiter will have enough rocks to name one for everybody.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

How large does a satellite have to be to be considered a “moon” or is that just a common phrase that doesn’t have an actual astronomical definition?

Basically, anything observable is a moon. Phobos and Diemos of Mars, for example, are 14 and 9 miles respectively.

[jennyp]

I still say they should move some of the bigger astroids so they'll start to clump together, and eventually this new planetoid will attract other asteroids on its own, and eventually sweep up the asteroid belt. Creating a tenth planet in the process.

[PatrickHenry]

All 11 new moons are considered irregular satellites. They all have retrograde orbits, meaning they go around Jupiter in the opposite direction to the planet's rotation. They have long, elliptical orbits, which suggest they were captured by Jupiter when the big planet was young, perhaps in the first million years of the solar system's existence.

"Wildly elliptical," wouldn't you say?

[martin_fierro]

They're gonna run out of Greek/Roman mythological names for all those moons and will have to resort to calling them "Sneezy," "Doc," "Grumpy," "Bashful," "Dopey",...!

[longshadow]

When they finally count them up, Jupiter will have enough rocks to name one for everybody.

Looking into my crystal ball, I see a great business opportunity to take advantage of the gullibility of the public. It will entail heavy radio advertising campaigns to get suckers to pony up cash to have a "Jovian Moon Named after YOU!"

"That's right, air-heads. You, too, can have a Jovian moon named after you or a relative. Your Jovian Moon will be recorded in a niftily-named book that is copyrighted soley for the purpose of impressing suckers, as there will never be more than one copy of this book, which will never, ever be consulted by ANY Astronomer for any professional purpose whatsoever. Call now, operators are waiting to take YOUR Jovian Moon order. Please have your credit cards and your intense desire to be taken advantage of handy."

An unnerving thought.....

[longshadow]

"Wildly elliptical," wouldn't you say?

Only if their orbital periods are 1⁷²⁰ days.....

[longshadow]

.... and will have to resort to calling them "Sneezy," "Doc," "Grumpy," "Bashful," "Dopey",...!

No, no. Those names are already reserved by Physicists.... for sub-atomic particles.

;-)

[VadeRetro]

. . . "Sneezy," "Doc," "Grumpy," "Bashful," "Dopey" . . .

Those are the new quark flavors.

[longshadow]

Those are the new quark flavors.

That's what I thought.....

;-)

[Pagey]

"They all have retrograde orbits, meaning they go around Jupiter in the opposite direction to the planet's rotation".

Does anyone know or would please explain,for the layman,how that works or how that could be?I'd really like to understand that one.I remember last year on the 'Astronomy Picture Of The Day' site,there was a "Coronal Inflow"---{it said,among other things "...a dark inflowing cloud's relative motion is tracked above in two highly processed images recorded an hour apart..."}of 'stuff' going Towards the Sun,which they still can't fully explain,but it sure as hell looked interesting.It's great to see some things that our tax dollars are used for.

[PatrickHenry]

Can't you swing this thread around so we pay proper respect to the Seventh Planet? (The name of which we dare not utter.)