New Neptune Moon Discovered
Posted on July 15, 2013
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a new moon orbiting Neptune. The tiny moon, designated S/2004 N 1, is no more than 12 miles across. It is the 14th known moon to be circling Neptune. NASA says in a release that the new moon "is so small and dim that it is roughly 100 million times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the naked eye."
The new moon was discovered in archival Hubble Space Telescope images taken from 2004 to 2009. Neptune's first moon (the outer moon) Triton was discovered in 1846, the same year Neptune was discovered.
Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute found the new moon on July 1, while studying the faint arcs, or segments of rings, around Neptune. Showalter says, "The moons and arcs orbit very quickly, so we had to devise a way to follow their motion in order to bring out the details of the system. It's the same reason a sports photographer tracks a running athlete -- the athlete stays in focus, but the background blurs."
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