In just a million years ' meter , two of Uranus ’ moon will smash into each as they stray out of orbit and wander into each other ’s paths , obliterating them both . This is probably not the first time that this has come about around the satellite , and isunlikely to be the last .
In apaperto be published in The Astronomical Journal , researchers have for the first time calculate the peck and density of one of Uranus ’ bantam moons , Cressida , that orbits near to the satellite in the thick group of satellite observed in the Solar System , and from this have worked out what its future movements are probable to be . And unfortunately , the news for the little satellite is n’t great .
bang as the Portia Group , these nine moons circle Uranus in an surprisingly tight orbit , all come in within just 18,000 kilometers ( 11,200 land mile ) of one another . To put this into perspective , our Moon is orb at a space of 380,000 kilometers ( 236,000 miles ) .
It turn over out that Cressida is not particularly dull , and because the orbit in which it move is packed with other denser moon that in turn have more pull , the likelihood is that the gravity of these larger bodies will pull Cressida out of its compass and into the path of another , fuck as Desdemona .
Apart from its orbit and diam , almost nothing else is have sex about Cressida , but the scientists were capable to calculate the tiny celestial body ’s weight unit by looking at what burden it has on one of Uranus ’ hoop . Known as Eta , the squad studied the ring ’s flight , and to their surprise found that rather than being circular in form , the ring was actually slenderly triangular . It turns out that this distortion is most probable down to the gravity of trivial Cressida .
They find the particle that make up the ring were travel around Uranus three time for every two orbits made by Cressida , start the researchers to infer the mass of the moon . It turns out that the orbiter has a tidy sum just 1/300,000ththat of our own Moon , and is only around 86 per centum as dense as water system . They think that it is in all probability rocky , but because of its little size , there is unlikely to be enough gravitation to draw it all together , hence the moon ’s low concentration .
This is not good tidings for pitiable Cressida . It is now suspect that the larger and denser moon Desdemona , which orbit just a simple 900 kilometers ( 560 mile ) away from Cressida , will pull it out of orbit and the two moons will smash up together . They also consider that this will be the likely fate of another pair in the Portia Group , Cupid and Belinda , while the rocky remains in one halo probably interpret a past moonlight smash event .
[ H / T : New Scientist ]
