2 thoughts on “Saturn and Minneapolis updates”

  1. Your connection with Carolyn Porco is SOOO neat. Such a “You are there” feeling to the work she is doing with the Cassini mission. Today’s New Scientist restricted itself to noting the fact that the pre-IAU name for the 60th moon is Frank.

    Well, why not.

    And who knew, a couple of generations backwhen we learned there were four Gallilean moons and a handful of others, that early in the next century the number would be 60 and counting. It seems to be no longer possible to rhyme off all the moons of all the planets of Sol.

  2. A song, a song!

    Mercury has got no moon
    and Venus whirls alone
    The Earth has Luna, large and bright
    To shed light on the darkest night
    Red planet Mars has two small moons
    Deimos and Phobos fly above the dunes

    The moons, the moons, the beautiful moons
    across our Solar System
    I’ve made a list for memory
    so everyone can list ’em

    Jupiter has company
    So far we’ve counted 63
    and some of them so new and small
    that they don’t have any names at all
    The ones with names that we all know
    are famous thanks to Galileo

    Ganymede, Callisto, Io, Europa
    put them in order by size
    The littlest moons, 14 of them so far
    Don’t even have names, no surprise
    In no special order I’ll call out the rest
    And try to stay conscious or you’ll flunk the test:

    Metis, Amalthea, Leda and Carpo
    Thebe, Elara, Sinope and Mneme
    Erinome, Helike, Hermippe and Kale
    Kore, Hegemone and Thelxinoe
    Euporie, Sponde, Ananke, Thyone
    Pasiphae, Cyllene, Eukelade
    Euridome, Kallichore, Carme and Arche
    Lysithea, Himalia, Themisto, Adrastea

    about then I gave it up as a bad job…

    I flunk

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