Hubble Discovers a New Moon around Neptune   
       
   July 15, 2013:  NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a new moon   
   orbiting the distant blue-green planet Neptune, the 14th known to be circling   
   the giant planet.   
       
   The moon, designated S/2004 N 1, is estimated to be no more than 12 miles   
   across, making it the smallest known moon in the Neptunian system. It 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. It even escaped detection by NASA's   
   Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew past Neptune in 1989 and surveyed the   
   planet's system of moons and rings.   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/p1330aw_0.jpg   
       
   This composite Hubble Space Telescope picture shows the location of a newly   
   discovered moon, designated S/2004 N 1, orbiting Neptune. The black and white   
   image was taken in 2009 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in visible light.   
   Hubble took the color inset of Neptune on August 2009. Image Credit: NASA,   
   ESA, M. Showalter/SETI Institute   
       
   Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., found the moon   
   July 1, while studying the faint arcs, or segments of rings, around Neptune.   
   "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," he said. "It's   
   the same reason a sports photographer tracks a running athlete -- the athlete   
   stays in focus, but the background blurs."   
       
   The method involved tracking the movement of a white dot that appears over and   
   over again in more than 150 archival Neptune photographs taken by Hubble from   
   2004 to 2009.   
       
   On a whim, Showalter looked far beyond the ring segments and noticed the white   
   dot about 65,400 miles from Neptune, located between the orbits of the   
   Neptunian moons Larissa and Proteus. The dot is S/2004 N 1. Showalter plotted   
   a circular orbit for the moon, which completes one revolution around Neptune   
   every 23 hours.   
       
   For images, video, and more information Neptune's new moon, visit:   
   http://hubblesite.org/news/2013/30   
       
   Credits:   
       
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   The Hubble Space Telescope is a cooperative project between NASA and the   
   European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,   
   manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in   
   Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the   
   Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., in Washington.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.94   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)