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Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon
- stephengillie 13y agoMany of the moons now seen orbiting the planet probably formed after Triton settled into its unusual retrograde orbit about Neptune. Or they were captured out of the Kuiper Belt as well. Maybe Neptune keeps losing and capturing new moons, rotating rocks into and out of the Kuiper Belt.
- print 13y agoThat's no moon!
- ChuckMcM 13y agoAh, you are testing the assumption that the moon was there when Voyager flew by :-)
- mkhaytman 13y agoWith Earth-like planets being discovered in far off star systems and HD cameras roving about on Mars, it's easy to forget how much of our own solar system is still an unexplored frontier. It may not be a ground breaking discovery, but the fact that there are Moons we haven't found as of yet, is really exciting to me!
- melling 13y agoWhen you consider that the solar system is the only part of the universe that humans will explore for many generations, if ever, I'm not really sure why its exploration really isn't a higher priority. Everything else is too far away.
- CodeCube 13y agoAs soon as we can make some new advancements in energy generation and storage, I think that we'll see this happen. Think about it, we're already practically bursting at the seams here on earth; I can totally see the human race expanding to other parts as soon as it's sustainable (food, acquisition of new materials for fabrication, etc.) Who knows if it'll happen in my lifetime, but I'm pretty pumped about it :)
- brigade 13y agowe're already practically bursting at the seams here on earth Not especially - developed countries have had declining birth rates for a while now, with several below the replacement rate. Plus you have to consider that both Antarctica and the Sahara Desert are more habitable than any known extraterrestrial location, yet hardly anyone is living in either.
- ekianjo 13y ago> Plus you have to consider that both Antarctica and the Sahara Desert are more habitable than any known extraterrestrial location, yet hardly anyone is living in either. WHat's the incentive to live there where there are better places to live, still available ?
- andyhmltn 13y agoThat's the point. We aren't nearly at the point where we can no longer sustain growth here on earth. I think in the event that that did happen, we'd soon explore living in Antarctica than on Mars.
- nostromo 13y agoThis little guy has a width less than the length of Manhattan, so I was surprised to hear it being called a moon. But Wikipedia says there isn't really a lower limit to the size of a moon -- if it orbits a planet, it's a moon. Unless we put it there, in which case it's a satellite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellite#The_definition_of_a_moon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellite#The_definitio...
- MichaelApproved 13y agoThey're both satellites. One is natural (moon) while the other is man made.
- hkolek 13y ago> This little guy has a width less than the length of Manhattan, so I was surprised to hear it being called a moon. Phobos and Deimos are far smaller. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(moon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(moon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon)
- donohoe 13y agoThat's no moon... (Only 12 miles!?)
- Sharlin 13y agoSee https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048898 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048898
- anusinha 13y agoReally cool. Also possibly of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Pluto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Pluto I had no idea Pluto (not a planet) had five moons.
- waster 13y agoThere are even asteroids with moons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor-planet_moon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor-planet_moon. Ida and Dactyl are possibly the best-named pair, IMHO.