Comments on: Ringed Uranus with its moons

Ringed Uranus with its moons

y2karl — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:13:09 -0800

Ringed Uranus with its moons : I love it that one moon is named Puck. ( courtesy Robot Wisdom)

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:15:15 -0800

By: mikojava

mikojava — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:17:38 -0800

Naturally Puck the court jester of Titania and Oberon the king and queen of faeries in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Or named after the disc shaped Mcguffin used in the game of ice hockey, you decide.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:21:19 -0800

Puck, Puck, Puck, Puck, Puck!

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:22:58 -0800

Hockeystick, Hockeystick, Hockeystick, Hockeystick, Hockeystick!

By: Chanther

Chanther — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:31:31 -0800

I've always been disappointed that there isn't something spectacularly different about Puck - some kind of wildly eccentric orbit, or a weird composition, or something. Puck's my favorite character out of all Shakespeare, and I just wouldn't want Robin Goodfellow's namesake to be boring, you know? Yes, I am a total nerd for caring about the names of minor hunks of rock and/or ice 2.5 billion miles away.

By: Slithy_Tove

Slithy_Tove — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:43:05 -0800

I never knew Uranus had rings. Unutterably cool. Thanks! [insert obligatory 'Uranus' scatological pun, just to get the thread over it]

By: willnot

willnot — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 21:50:35 -0800

You're a fool Chanther. Mercutio is the best character in all Shakespeare. Back on the topic of moons though, had we worked through the entire Roman pantheon by the time we discovered Uranus' various moons or what? It's a little like driving along and passing Maple St, Elm St, Oak St. only to come upon 10th Avenue or something. It just doesn't fit.

By: willnot

willnot — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:00:18 -0800

From one of the linked stories a breakdown of how all the planets and their satellites got their names. Uranus's moons still don't seem to fit the pattern though. They aren't even internally consistent. Who is this Pope guy? It's not like Shakespeare had run out of characters or anything.

By: Quixoticlife

Quixoticlife — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:27:22 -0800

Congratulations for the first FPP of the year!

By: slipperywhenwet

slipperywhenwet — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:40:09 -0800

Mercutio is the best character in all Shakespeare. Ummm.. No. How many comics does Mercutio appear in?

By: MAYORBOB

MAYORBOB — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:45:54 -0800

When it comes to old Will, Falstaff's the man.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 01:34:25 -0800

Congratulations for the first FPP of the year! Actually, the last post of last year. But Happy New Year anyway.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 05:09:41 -0800

By: y2karl

y2karl — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 09:43:59 -0800

These rings... they wobble?

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 09:49:51 -0800

all these worlds are yours - except Puck. Attempt no landing there.

By: Wet Spot

Wet Spot — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 10:31:07 -0800

[insert obligatory 'Uranus' scatological pun, just to get the thread over it] Rings around Uranus? Must be Klingons.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 12:46:19 -0800

Why are Uranus's moons named after Shakespearean characters?. Short answer: Because the discoverers of Uranus and some of its moons started it that way. Yes, even by the 19th century, the names of classical gods and other figures were running thin, but then, nomenclature is a tool and as such thematic choices are helpful. Today, with smaller bodies such as the thousands of asteroids and trans-neptunian objects, we get astronomers' dead relatives, pets, TV characters, and even stranger. The discoverer pretty much gets to choose, although his name choice will be voted on. The rings of the Uranus were discovered by occultation in 1977; the rings of Jupiter by Voyager 1 in 1979; and those of Neptune were confirmed by Voyager 2 in 1989. Although their existence had been hypothesized, the example of Saturn was widely thought to be singular even in the wider universe of planetary systems presumed at distant stars -- until we found that 100% of the gas giants in our solar system had rings. And oh how complex they have revealed themselves to be.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 13:13:19 -0800

Another great thread from y2karl. Happy y2k03 to karl and everyone! :)