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Article: Newest moon. (Neptune has a new moon according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Voyager 2) (Science and Technology)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 22, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Newest moon
EACH time NASA's Voyager 2 has called on a new planet it has found unexpected delights. As the spacecraft nears the end of its 12-year tour of the solar system and homes in on Neptune, it has done so again. Earlier this month NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, announced that the planet's two known moons, Nereid and Triton, have a companion. That itself was not surprising: scientists had expected to find at least one new body. The puzzle is that the new moon seems to be in the wrong place.
The new satellite, dubbed 1989 N1 until something a little more classical is dreamt up, appeared in mid-June as a tiny, bright ...