New Zealand Local Weather Forum
Climate and Science => Space, Science and Nature => Topic started by: Deano on July 20, 2013, 02:45:16 PM
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Astronomers have spotted a tiny object circling Neptune. This find, designated S/2004 N 1, brings the planet's moon count to 14.
Spacecraft and powerful ground-based telescopes have swollen the census of moons known to be orbiting the outer planets. However, perhaps owing to its great distance, Neptune has been missing from astronomers' "new moon" proclamations for a decade.
That's changed with the announcement that a tiny, previously unseen moonlet has been found. A team of observers led by Mark Showalter (SETI Institute) recorded it repeatedly in Hubble Space Telescope images of Neptune taken between 2004 and 2009. But the little body sat unnoticed for years, owing to its tiny size and rapid motion around the planet. "This moon never sits still long enough to have its picture taken," Showalter says.
Full story at Sky & Telescope (http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Neptunes-Newest-Moon-215535121.html)
(http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Neptune_moon_2004N1_tall.jpg)