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What
is a Moon? Definition Lags Behind Soaring Satellite Tally
01 April 2003: In the old days of astronomy, before Galileo, there was
just the Moon. Then scientists had to accept the clear and visible evidence
of four objects orbiting Jupiter, satellites the master saw through a
crude telescope in 1610.
Mysteries
of Mercury: New Search for Heat and Ice
31 December 2002: The European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission is designed
to withstand the rigors of a trip to the planet closest to the Sun, in
search of its hot secrets and also to look for ... ice?
Loony
Moons: Chaos, Order and Strange Behavior
22 October 2002: About the only thing the moons of our solar system have
in common is a penchant for strange behavior. A pair of new studies shows
that while a number of the more than 100 known satellites take predictable,
orderly paths that hint at their origins, other moons are governed by
total chaos. In between are all kinds of crazy antics.
Wild
New Theory for Building Planets
09 July 2002: A radical and controversial new theory of planet formation
suggests our solar system was created in a faraway, chaotic environment
that has in recent years come to be viewed as largely inhospitable to
planets.
Birth
of Uranus' Provocative Moon Still Puzzles Scientists
In the minds of many planetary scientists, Miranda is the solar system's
strangest moon. But the main theory about how it formed, after being blown
to bits, is being questioned by recent thinking.
Saturn's
Mysteries Still Beckon
The ringed planet, 20 years after Voyager's visit.
Nemesis:
Does the Sun Have a 'Companion'?
Like a thorn in the side of mainstream researchers, the Nemesis theory
-- that our Sun has a companion star responsible for recurring episodes
of wholesale death and destruction here on Earth -- just won't die.
The
Solar System's Wildest, Wackiest and Worst Weather
At Mars, Hurricane Andrew would stick in the memory as a gentle breeze.
The discovery of the South Pole back on Earth would be retold as Roald
Amundsen's pleasant summer stroll. Because the wildest, wackiest and worst
weather known does not occur on Earth.
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