October 02, 2005
Remember my July report about the discovery of the solar system's tenth planet? You know, the one the discoverers wanted to name Xena after the Lucy Lawless character from the TV show?
Well, the tenth planet has a moon. And in keeping with the theme, the discoverers have informally named the newly discovered sattelite.
While observing the new, so-called planet from Hawaii last month, a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology spotted a faint object trailing next to it. Because it was moving, astronomers ruled it was a moon and not a background star, which is stationary.
The moon discovery is important because it can help scientists determine the new planet's mass. In July, Brown announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick.
By determining the moon's distance and orbit around Xena, scientists can calculate how heavy Xena is. For example, the faster a moon goes around a planet, the more massive a planet is.
You know, the naming thing has gotten a bit silly. As I said in July, I think that there remail a number of gods from Greco-Roman mythology that could be so honored without breaking the naming pattern that is in place.
And just think -- if they name it "Vulcan", we could call the moon "Spock".
Posted by: Greg at
01:58 AM
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