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Naming Of Moons
The naming of moons has been the responsibility of the International Astronomical Union's committee for Planetary System Nomenclature since 1973. That committee is known today as the Planetary nomenclature, Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). Prior to its formation, the names of natural satellite, satellites have had varying histories. The choice of names is often determined by a satellite's discoverer; however, historically some satellites were not given names for many years after their discovery; for instance, Titan (moon), Titan was discovered by Christiaan Huygens, Huygens in 1655, but was not named until 1847, almost two centuries later. Before the IAU assumed responsibility for astronomical nomenclature, only twenty-five satellites had been given names that were in wide use and are still used: 1 of Earth, 2 of Mars, 5 of Jupiter, 10 of Saturn, 5 of Uranus, and 2 of Neptune. Since then, names have been given to 137 additional planetary and dwarf planetary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France. The IAU is composed of individual members, who include both professional astronomers and junior scientists, and national members, such as professional associations, national societies, or academic institutions. Individual members are organised into divisions, committees, and working groups centered on particular subdisciplines, subjects, or initiatives. the Union had 85 national members and 12,734 individual members, spanning 90 countries and territories. Among the key activities of the IAU is serving as a forum for scientific conferences. It sponsors nine annual symposia and holds a triannual General Assembly that sets policy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hyperion (moon)
Hyperion , also known as Saturn VII, is the eighth-largest moon of Saturn. It is distinguished by its highly irregular shape, chaotic rotation, low density, and its unusual sponge-like appearance. It was the first non- rounded moon to be discovered. Discovery Hyperion was independently discovered by William Cranch Bond and his son George Phillips Bond in the United States, and William Lassell in the United Kingdom in September 1848. Name The moon is named after Titan Hyperion, the god of watchfulness and observation, and the elder brother of Cronus (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Saturn). It is also designated ''Saturn VII''. The adjectival form of the name is ''Hyperionian''. Hyperion's discovery came shortly after John Herschel had suggested names for the seven previously known satellites of Saturn in his 1847 publication ''Results of Astronomical Observations made at the Cape of Good Hope''. William Lassell, who saw Hyperion two days after William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile (astrogeology), volatiles. Atmosphere of Uranus, The planet's atmosphere has a complex layered cloud structure and has the lowest minimum temperature () of all the Solar System's planets. It has a marked axial tilt of 82.23° with a Retrograde and prograde motion, retrograde rotation period of 17 hours and 14 minutes. This means that in an 84-Earth-year orbital period around the Sun, its poles get around 42 years of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of continuous darkness. Uranus has the third-largest diameter and fourth-largest mass among the Solar System's planets. Based on current models, inside its volatile Mantle (geology), mantle layer is a rocky core, and surrounding it is a thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere. Trace amount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 times more massive. Even though Saturn is almost as big as Jupiter, Saturn has less than a third its mass. Saturn orbits the Sun at a distance of , with an orbital period of 29.45 years. Saturn's interior is thought to be composed of a rocky core, surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and an outer layer of gas. Saturn has a pale yellow hue, due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. An electrical current in the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than Earth's, but has a magnetic moment 580 times that of Earth because of Saturn's greater size. Saturn's magnetic field strength is about a twen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Its diameter is 11 times that of Earth and a tenth that of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of , with an orbital period of . It is the List of brightest natural objects in the sky, third-brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky, after the Moon and Venus, and has been observed since prehistoric times. Its name derives from that of Jupiter (god), Jupiter, the chief deity of ancient Roman religion. Jupiter was the first of the Sun's planets to form, and its inward migration during the primordial phase of the Solar System affected much of the formation history of the other planets. Jupiter's atmosphere consists of 76% hydrogen and 24% helium by mass, with a denser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Nereid (moon)
Nereid, or Neptune II, is the third-largest moon of Neptune. It has the most eccentric orbit of all known moons in the Solar System. It was the second moon of Neptune to be discovered, by Gerard Kuiper in 1949. Discovery and naming Nereid was discovered on 1 May 1949 by Gerard P. Kuiper using photographic plates taken with the 82-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory. He proposed the name in the report of his discovery. It is named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology and attendants of the god Neptune. It was the second moon of Neptune to be discovered, and the last before the arrival of ''Voyager 2'' (not counting a single observation of an occultation by Larissa in 1981). Physical characteristics Nereid is third-largest of Neptune's satellites, and has a mean radius of about , similar to Saturn's moon Mimas. It is by far the largest normal irregular satellite known, having about two-thirds the mass of all irregular moons combined. ( Triton is much l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Triton (moon)
Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune. It is the only moon of Neptune massive enough to be list of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System, rounded under its own gravity and hosts a atmosphere of Triton, thin, hazy atmosphere. Triton orbits Neptune in a retrograde orbit—revolving in the opposite direction to the parent planet's rotation—the only large moon in the Solar System to do so. Triton is thought to have once been a dwarf planet from the Kuiper belt, gravitational capture, captured into Neptune's orbit by the latter's gravity. At in diameter, Triton is the list of natural satellites#List, seventh-largest moon in the Solar System, the second-largest planetary moon in relation to its primary (after Earth's Moon), and larger than all of the known dwarf planets. The mean density is , reflecting a composition of approximately 30–45% ice, water ice by mass, with the rest being mostly rock and metal. Triton is differentiated, with a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Miranda (moon)
Miranda, also designated Uranus V, is the smallest and innermost of Uranus's five round natural satellite, satellites. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on 16 February 1948 at McDonald Observatory in Texas, and named after Miranda (The Tempest), Miranda from William Shakespeare's play ''The Tempest''. Like the other large moons of Uranus, Miranda orbits close to its planet's equatorial plane. Because Uranus orbits the Sun on its side, Miranda's orbit is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic and shares Uranus's extreme seasonal cycle. At just in diameter, Miranda is one of the smallest closely observed objects in the Solar System that might be in hydrostatic equilibrium (spherical under its own gravity), and its total surface area is roughly equal to that of the U.S. state of Texas. The only close-up images of Miranda are from the ''Voyager 2'' probe, which made observations of Miranda during its Uranus flyby in January 1986. During the flyby, Miranda's southern hemisphere po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Oberon (moon)
Oberon , also designated , is the outermost and second-largest major moon of the planet Uranus. It is the second-most massive of the Uranian moons, and the tenth-largest moon in the Solar System. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, Oberon is named after the mythical king of the fairies who appears as a character in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Its orbit lies partially outside Uranus's magnetosphere. Oberon likely formed from the accretion disk that surrounded Uranus just after the planet's formation. The moon consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, and is probably differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. A layer of liquid water may be present at the boundary between the mantle and the core. The surface of Oberon, which is dark and slightly red in color, appears to have been primarily shaped by asteroid and comet impacts. It is covered by numerous impact craters reaching 210 km in diameter. Oberon possesses a system of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Titania (moon)
Titania (), also designated Uranus III, is the largest moon of Uranus. At a diameter of it is the List of natural satellites by diameter, eighth largest moon in the Solar System, with a surface area comparable to that of Australia. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, it is named after the Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream), queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Its orbit lies inside Uranus's magnetosphere. Titania consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock (geology), rock, and is probably differentiated into a rocky core (geology), core and an icy mantle (geology), mantle. A layer of liquid water may be present at the core–mantle boundary. Its surface, which is relatively dark and slightly red in color, appears to have been shaped by both impacts and endogenic processes. It is covered with numerous impact craters reaching up to in diameter, but is less heavily cratered than Oberon (moon), Oberon, outermost of the five large mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Umbriel
Umbriel () is the third-largest moon of Uranus. It was discovered on October 24, 1851, by William Lassell at the same time as neighboring moon Ariel. It was named after a character in Alexander Pope's 1712 poem '' The Rape of the Lock''. Umbriel consists mainly of ice with a substantial fraction of rock, and may be differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. The surface is the darkest among Uranian moons, and appears to have been shaped primarily by impacts, but the presence of canyons suggests early internal processes, and the moon may have undergone an early endogenically driven resurfacing event that obliterated its older surface. Covered by numerous impact craters reaching in diameter, Umbriel is the second-most heavily cratered satellite of Uranus after Oberon. The most prominent surface feature is a ring of bright material on the floor of Wunda crater. This moon, like all regular moons of Uranus, probably formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ariel (moon)
Ariel is the fourth-largest moons of Uranus, moon of Uranus. Ariel orbits and rotates in the equatorial plane of Uranus, which is almost perpendicular to the orbit of Uranus, so the moon has an extreme seasonal cycle. It was discovered on 24 October 1851 by William Lassell and named for a character in two different pieces of literature. As of 2019, much of the detailed knowledge of Ariel derives from a single flyby (spaceflight), flyby of Uranus performed by the space probe ''Voyager 2'' in 1986, which managed to image around 35% of the moon's surface. There are no active plans at present to return to study the moon in more detail, although various concepts such as a Uranus Orbiter and Probe have been proposed. After Miranda (moon), Miranda, Ariel is the second-closest of Uranus's five Major moon, major rounded satellites. Among the smallest of the Solar System's Major moon, 20 known spherical moons (it ranks 14th among them in diameter), it is believed to be composed of roughl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
