Oct 25 2002
From The Space Library
A group of astronomers, including NASA's Christophe Dumas, announced the discovery of a new moon orbiting the planet Uranus. S/2001 U 1 was Uranus's 21st confirmed moon, one of six Uranian moons with an irregular orbit on a different orbital plane from that of the planet's other moons. Moons with irregular orbits are hard to find, because they tend to be very distant from the planet they orbit and are so faint that they are difficult to distinguish from stars. The six Uranian moons with irregular orbits were the planet's smallest moons, ranging in size from 10 to 20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles) in diameter. Scientists theorized that these smaller moons were the result of collisions that had occurred during the early stages of planetary formation. (NASA JPL, “Scientists Boost Tally at Uranus,” news release, 25 October 2002.)
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