The next moon, galatea, orbits just inside the most prominent of neptunes rings, the adams ring. The small moons gravity is believed to cause disturbances in neptunes ring system. Using the hubble space telescope scientists discover the 21st centurys first new atmospheric vortex with a dark spot on neptune. Full moon names have been used by many cultures to describe the full moon throughout the year. An enhanced image of the moon taken with the noao mosaic ccd camera using two nsf telescopes at kitt peak national observatory.
The teacher may want students to record this information on their phases of the. The moon is earths nearest cosmic neighbor, but it is more than just a big pretty light in the sky. Most of the cratering occurred in the first billion years of its life, when leftover debris from planet formation was abundant. It is irregularly shaped and shows no sign of any geological modification.
Moon abcs fact sheet exploring the moon a teachers guide with activities, nasa eg199710116hq 17 property earth moon brain busters equatorial 12,756 km 3,476 km diameter surface area 510 million 37. The amount of the moon reflecting the suns light amount of the moon lit is decreasing in size. This time it should take less time for the students to answer the question. The above image is smeared so that galatea appears highly elongated. Galatea circles neptune every 10 hours and 18 minutes. The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth, and the fifth largest satellite in the solar system. Some of these moon facts include its age, gravity, orbital period, circumference, declination and its distance to earth. The only month that can occur without a full moon is february. Galatea was a sea nymph who attended to poseidon the roman god neptune. It hosts geysers that hurtle nitrogen gas five miles into the atmosphere, and might be linked to a subsurface ocean.
Beginning with gardens of the moon, readers will either hate my stuff or love it. The myth of endymion when the plains below were parched and brown and dusty with the heat of summer, on mount latmus all was so still and cool, so. Neptune, increasing the number of known planets to eight. Using the hubble space telescope, a scientist makes the discovery of a 14th neptune moon and gives it the professional designation of s2004 n 1.
And neptunes largest moon, triton, is an oddity in more ways than one. Galatea usa 9095920877 privacy policy privacy policy. Of the planets and dwarf planets, there are four which dont have any moons. Facts about the moon the moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the earth. A new moon is when the moon cannot be seen because we are looking at the unlit half of the moon. Endymion the myth of endymion the mythical story of endymion by lilian stoughton hyde. Neptunes rings are believed to be relatively young and relatively shortlived. The moon miranda, innermost of the five large moons, was revealed to be one of the strangest bodies yet seen in the solar system. The moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the earth. The name comes from the greek for gaul which was repeated by latin writers as galli. Detailed images from voyagers flyby of the moon showed huge fault canyons as deep as 20 kilometers 12 miles, terraced layers, and a mixture of old and young surfaces. These are the planets mercury and venus, and the dwarf planets ceres and makemake. The moons rotation period is synchronous with its revolution period around the earth. This article is within the scope of wikiproject solar system, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the solar system on wikipedia.
Endymion in greek mythology greek legends and myths. Small and irregularlyshaped like despina, galatea orbits in the same direction as neptune and is relatively close to the gas giants equatorial plane. Galatea appears to be a shepherd moon for the adams ring that is 1,000 kilometres 620 mi outside its orbit. Like despina and galatea, larissa is irregularly shaped and heavily cratered. List of moons in the solar system facts and information. At a distance of 384,400 km from the earth, the moon is our closest celestial neighbour and only natural satellite. The discovery was said iauc 4824 on august 2, 1989, but the text only talks of 10 frames. The celts were offered the region by the king of neighboring bithynia, nicomedes i r. Like the earth itself, the moon is unique in some ways and rather ordinary in others. September, 2015 peter christoforou astronomy lists, solar system 0. This ring is very narrow, with a width not exceeding 50 km, and has five embedded bright arcs.
Like the rest of the solar system, the moon is about 4 12 billion years old. Media in category galatea moon the following 4 files are in this category, out of 4 total. Because of this fact, we have been able to gain more knowledge about it than any other body in the solar system besides the earth. The moon orbits neptune in about hours and 20 minutes. Only 59% of the moons surface is visible from earth. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. Neptune s largest moon, triton, is found the same year. Ten facts about the moon bob the aliens tour of the. Weve seen so much of it in our lifetimes that its easy to take it for granted. Galatea is also the name, in some versions of the pygmalion story, of the statue that. Galatea or neptune vi, is the fourth closest moon to neptune. Earth has only the one natural satellite, which we are familiar with the moon.
Neptune facts for kids interesting facts about planet. Galateas mass has been estimated based on the radial perturbations it induces on the ring. A picture taken in 1994 by the clementine mission shows a volcano on the moons south pole from millions of years ago. Endymion was considered to be one of the most beautiful of all mortals, a rival in looks to ganymede or narcissus, and selene quickly fell in love with the shepherd, and so selene would visit endymion each night in his cave upon mount. Neso moon simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Specifically, native american tribes used moon phases and cycles to keep track of the seasons by giving a distinctive name to each recurring full moon, including the wolf moon. Next is an unnamed ring coorbital with the moon galatea, then le verrier, lassell, arago, and galle.
Galatea circles the planet in the same direction as neptune rotates, and remains close to neptunes. This site is maintained by the planetary science communications team at nasas jet propulsion laboratory and goddard space flight center for nasas science mission directorate. The new moon phase occurs when the moon is directly between the earth and sun. There is also an asteroid called 74 galatea galatea or neptune vi, is the fourth closest moon to neptune. It is named after galatea, one of the nereids of greek legend galatea was found in late july 1989 from the images taken by the voyager 2 probe. The gravity of galatea helps confine the ring particles within a limited region in the radial direction, maintaining the narrow ring.
Galatia was a region in northcentral anatolia modernday turkey settled by the celtic gauls c. Galatea galehteeeh lies 37,200 kilometers 23,100 miles from neptune. It is named after galatea, one of the nereids of greek legend. The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9. It is named after galatea, one of the nereids of greek legend, whom cyclops polyphemus was in love with galatea was discovered in late july 1989 from the images taken by the voyager 2 probe. The full moon is a lunar phase occurring when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and all three bodies are aligned in a straight line. A solar eclipse can only happen at new moon a waxing crescent moon is when the moon looks like crescent and the crescent increases waxes in. Galatea was found in late july 1989 from the images taken by the voyager 2 probe. By the numbers galatea nasa solar system exploration. Larissas orbit is mostly circular, but it is slowly spiraling inward and may eventually impact neptunes atmosphere, or the gas giants tidal forces may break larissa apart to form a planetary ring. Neso orbits neptune at a distance of more than 48 million km, making it the farthest known moon of any planet it follows a very inclined and very eccentric orbit illustrated on the diagram in relation to other irregular satellites of neptune neso is about 60 km in diameter, and assuming the mean density of 1. Start this article has been rated as startclass on the projects quality scale.
The most likely cause for the ring irregularity is gravitational meddling by the moon galatea. This is fairly recently in the moons history most of the surface features of the moon are billions of years old, which explains why there are few impact craters nearby. Just as endymion was interested in the moon, so selene, the greek goddess of the moon, was interested in the man who was observing her. Neptune has eight known moons, six of which were discovered by v oyager 2. The moon is superimposed on a separate image of the sky. The moon has been earths constant companion for most of its history, even though the mechanism of its formation is still the subject of some debate in astronomical circles. Galatea, in greek mythology, a nereid who was loved by the cyclops polyphemus. When polyphemus discovered acis and galatea together, he crushed acis to death with a boulder. There are currently 181 known moons in our solar system orbiting the various planets and dwarf planets. The unique full moon names were used to identify the entire month during which each occurred. Significant dates 1846 using mathematical calculations, astronomers discover. Moon facts there are many interesting facts about the moon and trivia that are can be interesting to know. Galatea circles the planet in the same direction as neptune rotates, and remains close to neptunes equatorial plane. Flower moon history, origin, name, dates, calendars and info.
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