Capt Jim...OT......Re;....Uranus.......W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 21 ? A telescope in
Hawaii spotted three new, distant,
weirdly-orbitting moons around Uranus, bringing
that planet?s satellite total to 21, the most in our
solar system.
These new discoveries actually make Uranus look
more like a normal member of the planet group that
includes Earth, astronomers who first saw the new moons
said.
?The discovery of these irregular satellites is very
important because it means that Uranus is not some
oddball, but rather is just like Neptune, Saturn, and
Jupiter,? Matthew Holman of the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics said in a statement Monday.
That is because most of the other giant planets had
these unusual moons, and until recently, Uranus did not,
the astronomers said.
Both Irregular and Regular
If these three new moons are confirmed and added to two
other irregular satellites discovered in 1997, Uranus would
have 16 regular and five irregular moons, the most of any
known planet.
Irregular satellites do not follow the normal,
near-circular orbits of most satellites, as Earth?s Moon
does. Instead, these irregular objects either travel in highly
elliptical orbits, or follow paths that are severely tipped to
the plane of the planet?s equator, the scientists said.
To find these new moons, the astronomers used the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. |
