Category: Science

Tour of the Solar System: The Kuiper Belt

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

The wheel has turned again, and the world is still faced with unrest, turmoil, and US$499 Trump watches. However, there is an antidote in the form of Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System! Once again, the tour that nobody on the planet asked for, except for me, is back to entertain the masses and spark curiosity within society, or just something to read on the bus.

Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is the envy of the scientific community, especially in astronomy circles. Don’t be one of those professors struggling to catch up on reading blogs, because you can do that now! Past entries include:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

18.) The Moons of Uranus

19.) The Literary Moons of Uranus

20.) Neptune

21.) Triton

22.) The Moons of Neptune

Our journey started in January 2023, and in September 2025, we left the Neptunian System, along with the Sun, the other seven planets, their moons, a single dwarf planet, and the Asteroid Belt. We are now going to be venturing into new territory, namely the Kuiper Belt. So, ladies and gentlemen, make sure you’re wearing your thinking hats, because the tour continues!

Kuiper Belt Illustration. Credit: Laurine Moreau/Space Facts

The next stop is an odd one, because just like the Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of space, rather than a single object, like a planet or moon. Before we dive into what the Kuiper Belt actually is, which is not a new Ralph Lauren belt, we need to establish its name and its discovery. I know, it’s not very flashy or sick, but facts matter.

The discovery of Pluto in 1930 created a stir in the astronomy community because of the possibility of other objects being discovered beyond Pluto. It was thought that since Pluto was on a long-period orbit, it may have just been the first to be revealed, with more waiting out of view.

Over the years, various theories were created to explain what this region beyond Neptune could hold, such as those of Kenneth Edgeworth in 1943. Whatever the reality, the growing consensus was that it could be made up of thousands, hundreds of thousands, if not millions or hundreds of millions of objects, similar in size to Pluto, especially short-period comets.

In 1951, an astronomer named Gerard Kuiper proposed in a paper that this region could be in the shape of a disc, where it could be the leftovers of cosmic bodies, and through time and gravity, have changed. As the years moved on, more objects were slowly discovered in this region of space.

Fast forward to 1992, when astronomers David Jewitt and Jane Luu discovered an object, 1992 QB1, which was later named 15760 Albion. This discovery helped to reinforce Kuiper’s theory of the existence of the disc/belt in that region.

This belt was then named after Kuiper; thus, it became known as the Kuiper Belt, but it’s also known as the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt. Despite that, some astronomers believe that Kuiper and Edgeworth don’t deserve their names to be attached to it, as they support the idea that other astronomers predicted the existence of the belt before them.

The Kuiper Belt is actually doughnut shaped; Pluto’s inclined orbit is typical of other KBOs. Credit: BBC

That was great, but what is the Kuiper Belt? What an insightful question, well done. Someone who is far more intelligent than I am, and has actually astronomical qualifications, not just a geek with a passion for space, would be able to give you a better description than I could. However, I will try.

The Kuiper Belt is a region of space located beyond Neptune’s orbit. It is shaped like a doughnut, with the centre of it containing the Sun, inner planets, the Asteroid Belt, and the outer planets. It’s home to dwarf planets, as well as smaller rocky and icy objects. Along with that, the Kuiper Belt is a source of short-period comets.

The size of the Kuiper Belt, to me, boggles the mind. If you can remember from previous tour stops, one astronomical unit (AU) is the distance between the Sun and the Earth, which roughly works out to be 150 million km. The Kuiper Belt can be divided into two sections: the Inner region and the Scattered Disc.

The Inner region, which is the main section, begins at 30 AU at Neptune’s orbit and finishes about 50 AU. The belt extends into the Scattered Disc, which overlaps the Inner region, with some objects being measured at distances of 1,000 AU. The width of the Kuiper Belt is believed to be about 20 AU, which is gargantuan.

Like many events in Earth’s history or Deep Time, there were no people around to witness it or record information. But just like Sherlock Holmes and Batman, scientists are detectives who can look at evidence to explain the origins of the Kuiper Belt.

The Kuiper Belt is thought to be 4.6 billion years old, slightly younger than the Solar System. At the formation of the Solar System, it would have been crazy, with objects zipping around and coalescing into planets or proto-planets.

Just like the Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt is the remnants or leftovers of proto-planets that failed to form and were pulled apart by gravitational forces. The difference is that the Asteroid Belt was formed by Jupiter’s gravitational pull, whereas the Kuiper Belt was created by the gravitational pull of Neptune.

Objects located within the Kuiper Belt have special labels, referred to as Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). There is a myth that TNOs and KBOs are the same thing, like the United Kingdom and Great Britain. They are similar, but different.

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; however, Great Britain consists of England, Scotland, and Wales. Great Britain is part of the United Kingdom, but the United Kingdom is not Great Britain.

The same rule applies to the Kuiper Belt. TNOs are any objects that are located and discovered beyond Neptune’s orbit, which includes the Kuiper Belt; however, KBOs are objects only located within the Kuiper Belt. All KBOs are TNOs, but not all TNOs are KBOs. It’s a subtle difference, but facts matter.

Some interplanetary dust particles that end up in Earth’s atmosphere may have started life in the faraway Kuiper Belt (illustrated), a region of icy objects farther from the sun than Neptune. Credit: ESA

Centaurs are another type of rocky and icy objects that begin in the Kuiper Belt, but now have orbits between Jupiter and Neptune. They act as a transitional population between KBOs and comets, if that makes sense. Their orbits are unstable due to various gravitational interactions with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which can send them inwards.

This process can eventually cause them to evolve into comets or be ejected from the solar system entirely. Because of their origin, they are sometimes called “Kuiper Belt escapees.”

The distribution of objects in the belt is not even, so they are scattered. Another comparison with the Asteroid Belt is the distance between objects. Hollywood likes to add drama to space travel, like it wasn’t already dangerous, and paints the picture of asteroids hitting each other because they are so close.

The opposite is true, since the average distance of objects in the Kuiper Belt is about the distance between the Earth and the Moon, roughly 385,000 km. You will have no issue hitting another object; it’s smooth sailing.

The spacecrafts Pioneer 10 (1983) and Voyager 2 (1989) have both travelled into the Kuiper Belt, with the most recent visitor, New Horizons, in 2015, which is still sending back fantastic data and images, along with the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes studying the region.

The Kuiper Belt has many famous citizens, particularly dwarf planets, which brings us to our next tour stop, Pluto! That brings this section of the tour to a close, but we will start again in December, whether that is before or after Christmas. Good times.

What’s your favourite fact about the Kuiper Belt? As always, please let me know. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. My Twitter and Mastodon accounts are highly popular, since I have a combined total of 174 followers; I know, Neil deGrasse Tyson can only dream of those numbers.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, rainbows are not dangerous, and I’ll see you next week for some Shakespeare! I bet you can’t wait!

Science advice from a 79 year-old convicted felon

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

I’m not sure if you fully understand how lucky the world is to have a courageous and intelligent leader, like President Donald Trump. Not only is he an amazing debater and casino owner, but he also understands how lawsuits work, as he has been able to explain what it’s like to go through the impeachment process. Twice. His legal mind is unparalleled in its knowledge of tax codes, bankruptcies, and indictments.

However, this blog post is not about singing the praises of Trump’s legal prowess, but rather, he is an untapped source of scientific information, wisdom, and knowledge. Yes, even though he has no scientific qualifications, Trump can converse with the masses and explain various scientific concepts and theories.

To celebrate his achievements in science communication, the staff of Some Geek Told Me have collected some of his wisest nuggets of scientific information. Sadly, the geeky editor of this well-respected blog has insisted on adding some extra information to Trump’s astute scientific statements. These unwanted literary additions will be indicated in italics. I’m sorry, but our editor enjoys putting in his two cents’ worth.

And with that, let us enjoy the scientific advice from a beloved politician and golfer (who is a 79-year-old convicted felon), President Donald Trump, from 2015 onwards. Let’s begin now.

In 2017, Trump heroically warned the public on the dangers of staring directly at the Sun during an eclipse without wearing solar eclipse glasses, by staring directly at the Sun during an eclipse without wearing solar eclipse glasses.
Credit: Teen Vogue

Windmills (Wind turbines)

“It is the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy, but windmills should not be allowed.”

  • The most expensive form of energy, in terms of cost per kilowatt, is coal power, with internal combustion engines and nuclear power more expensive than wind power (on land and offshore). Trump’s statement is false.

“[Wind turbines] are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before.”

  • There is no evidence or links to suggest that offshore wind turbines can be connected to or attributed to the deaths of large groups of whales. Trump’s statement is false.

“[Windfarms] kill the birds.”

  • Yes, it’s correct to say that wind turbines can result in bird deaths. Large blades spinning around at tremendous speeds will obviously be able to injure and/or kill birds, whether on land or offshore. In saying that, the rates of birds being killed by wind turbines are low, compared to other factors like birds flying into power lines, pesticides, and the loss of habitats, as well as wild and domestic cats.

“They say the noise [Wind turbines] causes cancer.”

  • I believe you would be hard-pressed to find any credible scientific or medical research that would link the noise generated by wind turbines to cancer rates in humans. Essentially, the noise of wind turbines does not cause cancer. Trump’s statement is false.

“[Wind turbines] start to rust and rot in eight years and, when they do, you can’t really turn them off, you can’t burn them. They won’t let you bury the propellers, the props, because there’s a certain type of fibre that doesn’t go well with the land.”

  • Just like the various car designs, every wind turbine design is different and built by different companies. However, 20-25 years is the average life span of a wind turbine. If properly maintained and in certain areas, a wind turbine could last more than 30 years. As for their waste, estimates show that 80-90% of their mass can be recycled. Trump’s statement is false.

Plastic straws

 “I don’t think that plastic [straw] is going to affect a shark as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean.”

  • Trump’s claim that discarded plastic straws in the ocean will not affect sharks is false. Scientific evidence shows that marine wildlife like sharks, sea turtles and others do, in fact, consume single-use plastics, like straws.

COVID-19

“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.”

  • In 2020, when the world was going into lockdown over COVID-19, vaccines were still being developed. Trump’s suggestion of fighting the virus with light and heat was based on the evidence that a lot of viruses die when exposed to ultraviolet light on a surface. However, exposing a virus to ultraviolet light inside a human body would not kill the virus. Trump’s statement is false.

“Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.”

  • Although it is awkward to understand his point, Trump is wondering if we should be treating COVID-19 with disinfectant, because it can kill viruses on surfaces, so why not on the human body? This statement is not so much false as it is just wrong and dangerous. Ingesting or injecting disinfectants to kill viruses will only end up poisoning and harming you, if not kill you. Please do not do this.

Magnets

“”Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this. Give me a glass of water. Let me drop it on the magnets. That’s the end of the magnets.”

“They want to use magnets to lift up the elevators, I said magnets will not work. Give me a cup of water, throw it on the magnets, you totally short out the system. They said, ‘How did you know that?’ I said, ‘Because I know that.”

  • Both of these statements talk about how Trump believes that magnets do not work underwater. In reality, magnets can still work effectively underwater. This is because water is basically non-magnetic, so it does not interfere with a magnetic field. However, saltwater and heat, over a period of time, can weaken them. Inferring that a magnet can not work underwater is false.

Autism

“The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history. There’s never been anything like this. Just a few decades ago, 1 in 10,000 children had autism. So that’s not a long time. And I’ve always heard, you know, they say a few, but I think it’s a lot less time than that.”

  • Trump is correct that autism rates in the United States, but also the world in general, are rising. However, the main reasons for this are that technology has evolved, which means the assessment process is more refined, as well as experts having a far better understanding and recognition of the condition. Both of these factors will drive the rates up. Trump’s statement is misleading.

“It’s [the MMR vaccine] too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby.”

  • There is no scientific research or medical evidence to suggest a link between vaccines, like the MMR vaccine, and autism. A child can not catch autism, nor can it be given through a vaccination. Evidence reveals that autism is hereditary, so it is passed on through families, like parent to child. Trump’s statement is false.

“First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of a — well, let’s see how we say that acetaminophen — is that OK? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy, can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”

  • Acetaminophen is a painkiller that is known under brand names like Tylenol and Panadol. While it’s true that no medication is 100% safe, various health and medical organisations around the world have issued statements saying that acetaminophen is a safe option for pregnant women to take. There is no scientific research or medical evidence to suggest a link between acetaminophen and autism. Trump’s statement is false.

Coal

“[Coal] It’s cheap, incredibly efficient, high density and it’s almost indestructible.”

  • We have already established that coal is the most expensive form of energy, at a cost of per kilowatt; it is not cheap. As for the claim that coal is almost indestructible, you can mine and burn coal, in addition to breaking it with a hammer. Trump’s statement is false.

“There is a thing called clean coal. Coal will last for a thousand years in this country [United States of America].”

  • Coal production in the United States is becoming cleaner, but the answer is more complex than that. Coal is one of the dirtiest fossil fuels that humans use. When burnt, it releases carbon dioxide, which is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Burning coal also creates health issues, such as lung disease, smog, acid rain, and respiratory illness, as well as neurological and developmental damage. Trump’s statement is false.
  • The United States has the largest coal reserves on the planet, estimated to be around 22% of the world’s share; however, that is finite. Overall, coal production in the United States has slowed, and estimates put the current coal reserve will last for only another 400 years, depending on whether production increases or decreases. Trump’s statement is false.

Climate Change

“This ‘climate change,’ it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”

  • It’s becoming extremely difficult to be a politician and deny climate change now. Climate change is one, if not the biggest, threat to life on Earth. Our planet does have a natural climate change cycle, so it is a real process. However, mountains of data and evidence confirm that our current climate cycle is being accelerated by humans, caused by the large release of carbon dioxide. Trump’s statement is false.

“There is a cooling, and there’s a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. Right . . . That wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place.”

  • Trump is referring to the fact that climate change used to be known as global warming; this is correct. However, the term has evolved to become “climate change” because the term “global warming” was not entirely accurate. If you hear the term global warming, you think of the entire planet heating up. Everywhere will be getting hotter because of the rising temperatures, thanks to the massive release of carbon dioxide through the use of fossil fuels. The reality is that generally, the hot areas will continue to get hotter, to extreme conditions. The opposite is also true, where the areas that are cold will continue to be colder, to the point of extreme weather. Climate change is a far better term to describe the effects of the planet’s rising temperature. Trump’s statement is misleading.

There is a lot more fantastic scientific advice from the world’s greatest leader (a man who was held liable for the sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll, as well as being named in the late convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein’s files), but I have run out of time.

Spoiler: if you are a follower of this vanity project, you would realise that I am not a supporter of Donald Trump or his policies. I don’t want The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, Fox News, or especially The Sun, stating that I endorse Trump. This is a piss-take because I advocate for accurate scientific communication, and not spreading false scientific misinformation or disinformation. Sorry, but not sorry; I am a geek, after all.

I will revisit more of Trump’s scientific claims, as well as looking at some other things he has said that are not entirely correct, concerning one of my other favourite topics. And with that, I am done. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. 

Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, be wary of cats that listen to you, and I’ll see you next week.

Take care and Slava Ukraini.

Who, what, and where are the elements named after?: Part 2

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, Science

I’m so glad that you’re back. The incident with the kitchen whisk is now behind us, and all is forgiven. And speaking of forgiveness, I have to plead for forgiveness, because it’s been a while since I published a blog post about the Period Table.

I have the time to explain this, so I will. In my infinite wisdom, I have decided to embark on another ill-conceived project: to explain where the names of the 118 elements that sit on the coolest table in the universe come from.

My first chapter was about discussing the elements that have been named after real people. Because that was such a great success, this chapter will be discussing the elements that have been named after objects, in particular, cosmic objects. Like before, I’m not going to present these elements in alphabetical order, because that would be too easy. No, I’m going to list them in the order you would find them on the Periodic Table.

Get ready for some more interesting pieces about history, chemistry, and astronomy. Prepare yourselves!

Image by Elchinator from Pixabay

Helium (He): The Sun

Helium is quite special, because it’s the second element on the Periodic Table. It’s a noble gas, and it was discovered in 1868 by Norman Lockyer, then isolated by William Ramsay, Per Teodor Cleve, and Abraham Langlet in 1895. Helium was the first and only element to be identified outside of Earth, which was through observations and spectral analysis of the Sun.

Since helium was discovered in our local star, Lockyer named the new element after the word Helios, which is derived from the Greek word for the Sun. Helios was also the Greek god of the Sun.

Credit: NASA

Selenium (Se): The Moon

Selenium is the first and only element on today’s list that fits into the Non-metal group on the Periodic Table. Because of this, it’s the 34th element on the table. It was discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, and possibly, Johann Gottlieb Gahn as well, though that’s difficult to accurately state.

The Greek word for the Moon is Selene, but it’s also the name of the Greek Goddess of the Moon. Berzelius named Selenium after the Moon; however, just like the Sun, an argument could be made that it’s actually named after a deity.

The Moon, the best name for any moon in the universe. Credit: Airwolfhound/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Palladium (Pd): Pallas

Palladium is the 46th element on the Periodic Table, which places it in the Transition Metals group. In 1802, it was discovered by William Hyde Wollaston, an English chemist, who also discovered osmium and rhodium.

Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is a region of our Solar System called the Asteroid Belt. Wollaston named Palladium after an asteroid that was located in it, Pallas, and just like Palladium, it was discovered in 1802. Pallas is the third-largest asteroid in our Solar System. Represent.

An image of the asteroid Pallas captured by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. (Image credit: ESO/Vernazza et al.)

Tellurium (Te): Earth

Tellurium is a metalloid and the 52nd element on the Periodic Table. Like several other elements, it was discovered and isolated by different individuals. Tellurium was discovered by Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein in 1782, but isolated in 1798 by Martin Heinrich Klaproth.

The name Tellurium comes from tellus, the Latin word for Earth; so essentially, tellurium is named after our home planet, Earth.

A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite caught this view of Africa and the entire sunlit side of Earth on July 9, 2015. (Image credit: NASA)

Cerium (Ce): Ceres

For this entry, we have Cerium, which is the 58th element on the Periodic Table. It can be found lounging around with the other Lanthanoids, and it was discovered by Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, and Wilhelm Hisinger in 1803, but was first isolated by William Francis Hillebrand in 1875.

Within the Asteroid Belt, we can find the dwarf planet Ceres, which cerium was named after. Ceres was discovered in 1801, just two years before cerium was identified.

An image of dwarf planet Ceres captured by NASA’s Dawn mission.  (Image credit: NASA)

Mercury (Hg): Mercury

Mercury is the 80th element on the Periodic Table, and just like the cool kids, it sits in the Transition metals group. To the best of my understanding, no one person can be credited with Mercury’s discovery, as it was in use since antiquity, which has included several ancient civilisations like the Egyptians, Qin dynasty, Mayas, and Sumerians, to name but a few.

As you can imagine, Mercury is not named after Freddie Mercury, but rather the planet, Mercury, the first planet from the Sun. The element was once known as quicksilver because it is a metal that remains liquid at room temperature. This property connects it to the planet Mercury, named after the messenger of the Roman gods, who was said to speed across the night sky, just like the planet.

A colourful view of Mercury produced using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

Uranium (U): Uranus

Located in the Actinoids group, Uranium is the 92nd element on the Periodic Table. Just like the beautiful nightmare of your ex-partner, this element is radioactive and dangerous. Uranium was discovered in 1789 by the German chemist, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, whom we have met before.

It won’t take you 20 questions to figure this one out, but Klaproth named his newly discovered element after the 1781 discovery of the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus, by the German astronomer, William Herschel.

Please remember that the pronunciation of Uranus’ name is not Yuor-ray-nuhs or U-ran-us, as you would think. It’s actually pronounced Yoor-e-nes or Ur-an-us. Facts matter, boys and girls, facts matter.

This composite image features the ringed planet Uranus set against the blackness of space. Credit: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Neptunium (Np): Neptune

Sitting right next to Uranium in the Actinoids is Neptunium, the 93rd element on the Periodic Table. It was first synthesised in 1940 by Philip H. Abelson and Edwin McMillan at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, California, United States.

Neptunium was named after the eighth planet, Neptune, which was discovered in 1846 by Johann Galle, Urbain Le Verrier, and John Couch Adams. The element was named after the planet, because it was going to follow the pattern set down with Uranium and Uranus.

This composite image provided by NASA on Sept. 21, 2022, shows three side-by-side images of Neptune. From left, a photo of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021, and the James Webb telescope in 2022. Credit: NASA via AP.

Plutonium (Pu): Pluto

Chilling next to Neptunium in the Actinoids group, we have the 94th element on the Periodic Table: Plutonium. For its discovery, we need to go back to between December 1940 and February 1941, when Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Emilio Segrè, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl first produced, isolated, and identified plutonium.

By now, you would have noticed a small pattern with the naming of the last two elements. You don’t have to be a qualified nuclear safety inspector like Homer Simpson to realise that plutonium was named after the planet, now dwarf planet, Pluto, which was discovered in 1930.

Enhanced color view of Pluto using images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and color data from the spacecraft’s Ralph Instrument. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

That’s another nine elements down, with only 96 to go. I’ll keep chipping away at it here, on New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website. Did I miss any elements? As always, please let me know.

That’s it for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, and never give Chuck Norris a blunt instrument, because someone will regret it. I’ll see you next week for some more amateur writing by yours truly.

Tour of the Solar System: The Moons of Neptune

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

I think I need to start with an apology. I’m sorry, but I have not released a new Tour of the Solar System blog post since 19th May. That is being rectified today with the latest chapter of the tour that very few people actually want or need. Yes, my loyal readers, Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is back!

For the previous entries on this non-award winning project, we have:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

18.) The Moons of Uranus

19.) The Literary Moons of Uranus

20.) Neptune

21.) Triton

Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is the best tour that money can buy; I mean, it’s free, so the quality is somewhere in the middle. However, I beseech you to stay and enjoy one of the rare tour stops that is not about a singular object, but many. Prepare yourselves, because we are going to discuss…drum roll please…..The Moons of Neptune! Let’s listen to the chime and begin now.

An annotated picture of some of Neptune’s many moons as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The bright blue diffraction star is Triton, Neptune’s largest moon; while Hippocamp, its smallest regular moon, is too small to be seen.

Just like Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, Neptune has multiple moons. 16 known moons have been discovered orbiting Neptune since 1846, which makes it a very successful foster parent.1 In addition to this, their names come from Roman or Greek mythology, just like Jupiter and Saturn, but as you remember, not the moons of Uranus.

On the last stop of the tour, we visited Triton, which was the largest natural satellite of Neptune. Because that entry was so riveting, I’m only able to list the next five largest moons, even though there are 10 more moons. Sadly, these moons will not be discussed because of my lack of sleep and time, so I do repent my actions on this. 2

So, without further delay, let’s crack on and meet some of Neptune’s moons!

Proteus

Proteus is the second-largest moon of Neptune, with a diameter of about 420 km. It orbits Neptune at around 117,640 km, and it’s tidally locked to Neptune. What this means is that the amount of time it takes Proteus to execute one orbit of Neptune is the same time it takes Neptune to rotate just once. An easy example of this is with the Earth and the Moon.

Proteus is not named after the Marvel mutant, as you may have thought, but rather a shape-changing sea god from Greek mythology, who was the son of Poseidon (Neptune). It was discovered by Stephen P. Synnott on 16th June 1989, from images taken by Voyager 2, before it completed its flyby of Neptune.

Proteus’ shape is an irregular polyhedron, instead of a traditional spheroid, like the majority of cosmic objects. Another interesting fact is that Proteus has an impact crater called Pharos. What makes Pharos unique is that it’s measured to be 10–15 km deep and has a diameter of 250 km, which, if you have been keeping up, means it’s more than half the diameter of Proteus.

This image of Neptune’s satellite 1989N1 was obtained on Aug. 25, 1989 from a range of 146,000 kilometres. The resolution is about 2.7 kilometres per line pair. Credit: Voyager 2, NASA.

Nereid

Nereid is named after the Nereids, who were from Greek mythology, as they were sea-nymphs and servants to Poseidon (Neptune). Nereid has a diameter of only 340 km, making it the third-largest moon of Neptune, after Triton and Proteus. Nereid is the ninth-farthest moon from Neptune, orbiting at an average distance of 5,513,400 km. 

Nereid is the second moon of Neptune to be discovered. Astronomer Gerard Kuiper made this discovery on 1st May 1949. You’ll encounter Kuiper’s name several more times during our tour, so pay attention! Trust me.

Because of Nereid’s massive distance from Earth (about 4.5-5 billion km), Voyager 2 has been the only spacecraft to fly past the moon, which happened in 1989. Nereid has an eccentric and curious orbit, which ranges from 1.4 to 9.6 million km. It takes 360 Earth days to make one orbit of Neptune, while it takes about 11 hours to make one rotation.

This Voyager view of Nereid was obtained on Aug. 24, 1989 at a distance of 4.7 million kilometres. With a resolution of 43 kilometres per pixel, this image has sufficient detail to show the overall size and albedo. Credit: NASA/JPL

Larissa

Larissa was discovered by a team of astronomers, Harold J. Reitsema, William B. Hubbard, Larry A. Lebofsky and David J. Tholen, on 24th May 1981, after many occultation observations. Its existence was confirmed with the Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989. Larissa has a diameter of 194 km, making it the fourth-largest moon of Neptune. It’s named after a nymph who was a lover of Poseidon, because in Greek mythology, the Gods had fidelity issues.

Larissa orbits Neptune at about 73,540 km, which makes it the fifth-farthest moon from the planet, placing it within Neptune’s rings. For its orbit, Larissa completes one rotation around Neptune every 13 hours and 20 minutes.

The moon is gradually twirling towards Neptune, and it is believed that it will eventually hit Neptune’s atmosphere. Another theory is that Larissa could be ripped apart by Neptune’s tidal forces to create a new ring. As for Larissa’s surface, it is heavily cratered and irregularly shaped, just like my face when I was a teenager.

These Voyager 2 images of satellite 1989N2 at a resolution of 4.2 kilometres per pixel reveal it to be and irregularly shaped, dark object. Credit: NASA/JPL

Galatea

Moving right along, we have Galatea. It’s the fifth-largest moon of Neptune, with a diameter of about 174.8 km. It was discovered in 1989 by Synnott, along with a team of astronomers, with the announcement being held on 2nd August 1989. Like several other moons on the list, Voyager 2’s images proved to be invaluable.

Galatea sounds like the name of a female professional wrestler, but alas, it’s not. Do you remember how Nereid was named after the Nereids, the sea-nymphs? Galatea was named in 1991 after one particular Nereid, because one of Poseidon’s sons, Polyphemus, was in love with her. Lucky girl. It’s also noteworthy that Polyphemus was the same Cyclops from the epic Odyssey, written by Homer.

Out of the six major moons of Neptune, Galatea is the fourth closest to the planet, with an orbiting distance of about 62,000 km. Galatea also shares other traits with its siblings, like being irregularly shaped, with some scientists believing that these irregularly shaped moons are the leftovers of some cosmic collisions.

Like Larissa, Galatea is spiralling towards Neptune and one day, it will be ripped apart or collide with Neptune’s atmosphere. Galatea also orbits the gas giant every 10 hours and 18 minutes.

Galatea as seen by Voyager 2. The image is smeared due to the combination of long exposure needed at this distance from the Sun, and the rapid relative motion of Galatea and Voyager. Hence, Galatea appears more elongated than in reality. Credit: Voyager 2/NASA.

Despina

Now, if Galatea sounds like a female professional wrestler, then Despina sounds like a female Disney villain, though the name is still interconnected with Greek Gods and relationships. Big surprise. Despina was a nymph, as she was the daughter of Poseidon and Demeter. And since Poseidon and Demeter were siblings, that meant Despina’s biological parents were also her uncle and aunty.

Despina is the sixth-largest of Neptune’s moons, and as you can guess, it was discovered by Synnott again, as well as with the Voyager Imaging Team, in July 1989.

The moon is only 150 km in diameter, which is 1/23rd the diameter of the Moon. Despina is believed to be made up of water ice and rocky material, and has an orbital period of 8 hours.

Despina as seen by Voyager 2. There is significant horizontal smearing due to the combination of long exposure needed at this distance from the Sun, and the rapid relative motion of the moon and Voyager. Credit: NASA/Calvin J. Hamilton.

Like I said earlier, there are 10 more moons to discuss, whose names are Thalassa, Halimede, Naiad, Neso, Sao, Laomedeia, Psamathe, Hippocamp, S/2002 N 5 and S/2021 N 1. Maybe one day I’ll discuss them, but not today, because I need a lot of beauty sleep. What’s your favourite moon of Neptune? As always, please let me know.

Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. My Twitter and Mastodon accounts still exist, if you feel like reading some boring facts and information. It’s an attractive offer, isn’t it? Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch some games from the Women’s Rugby World Cup, and I’ll see you next week.

1 The most recent moons to be discovered were in both in 2024, with the awesome working names of S/2002 N 5 and S/2021 N 1.

2 As you know, I enjoy Shakespeare, and I enjoy even more when I can understand it.

Who, what, and where are the elements named after?: Part 1

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn History, People, Science

What’s a nice person like you, doing in a place like this? It’s not that bad, I think. In a totally unrelated matter, I attended a meeting with all of the administrative staff at Some Geek Told Me to discuss future ideas for blog posts.

The CEO came up with a few stupid ideas, the CFO mentioned a moronic suggestion, and the President of the company suggested a truly idiotic topic, though that’s pretty standard nowadays. However, whenever I need a dumb idea, the Vice President never disappoints me.

Because whatever the Vice President wants, the Vice President gets, so we are now going back to the Periodic Table. Yay! Our last venture into this elemental masterpiece was nearly four years ago, so if you missed it, check it out here before…I don’t have an answer to that statement.

Like me, I’m sure you’re a science fan, so how could you not love the Periodic Table? Created in 1869, by Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, the Periodic Table is the organisation of the known elements into a table, based on their physical properties, atomic number, atomic valence and their atomic mass.

One day I hope to understand it better, though at this rate, it might be the same time the All Blacks win the World Cup again.

So after reading this strange introduction, you would be forgiven if you’re wondering what is going on with today’s blog post. Other than neglecting my bed, we are going to start looking at where the names of the 118 elements have originated from, with the first part of this pointless exercise looking at real people.

Yes, 13 elements are directly named after real people, however, some different people are indirectly named after elements, but I will rant about them another day. I’m not going to present 13 elements in alphabetical order, as you would expect from this account, but rather in the order you would find them on the Periodic Table. So, without further fanfare, let’s turn the page and begin now.

Image by Daniel Madriz from Pixabay

Curium (Cm): Marie Curie and Pierre Curie

Curium is the 96th element on the Periodic Table, and it resides in the Actinoid group. It’s a synthetic element, which means it was created on purpose by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkley), California, United States.

Curium was named after Marie and Pierre Curie, one of the most famous married couples in science. The Curies discovered polonium (Po), along with radium (Ra) and conducted years of research on radioactivity. In 1903, the Curies and Henri Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Marie winning the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Pierre and Maria Curie in the laboratory, 1904. Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Einsteinium (Es): Albert Einstein

Einsteinium is the 99th element on the Periodic Table, and it hangs out just three spaces along from curium in the Actinoid group. Einsteinium is another synthetic element, and it was created in 1952, by Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, Almon E. Larsh, and Robert M. Latimer, at the University of California, Berkeley, United States.

Using your amazing detective skills, you would have figured out that Einsteinium was named after, arguably, the famous scientist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein.

I’ve stated this before, but Einstein was a theoretical physicist who researched and published work on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion and the Einstein relation, special relativity, the principle of mass-energy equivalence (E=mc2), statistical mechanics, general relativity, and many more outstanding contributions to science. Einstein also received a Nobel Prize in 1921 in Physics.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) at home in Princeton, New Jersey, 1944. Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images

Fermium (Fm): Enrico Fermi

 Since Fermium is the 100th element on the Periodic Table, it sits right next to Einsteinium in the Actinoid group. As you can guess, Fermium is a synthetic element, and in 1952, it was discovered by Albert Ghiorso and other scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was created in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb explosion in 1952, code-named Ivy Mike.

Just like the previous two entries, Fermium was named after another 20th-century scientist, Enrico Fermi. He was a physicist, and among the various things he accomplished, Fermi helped construct the world’s first artificial nuclear reactor, as well as working on the Manhattan Project.

And just like the Curies and Einstein, he was also awarded a Nobel Prize, but this was in 1938 for Physics.

Physicist Enrico Fermi, now a professor at the Columbia University, shown August 10, 1945, began experimenting with uranium in Italy in the early 1930’s. His experiments and the knowledge derived from them assisted in the final perfection of the atomic bomb. (AP Photo)

Mendelevium (Md): Dmitri Mendeleev

You knew this was coming, didn’t you? Mendelevium is another synthetic element and is the 101st element on the Periodic Table. It was discovered by Stanley G. Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory Robert Choppin, and Bernard G. Harvey in 1955 at the University of California.

Mendelevium was named after…wait for it…Dmitri Mendeleev! Mendeleev was the architect of the modern Periodic Table, and he did this by organising the elements into a table, based on their physical properties, like atomic number, atomic valence and atomic mass.

One remarkable aspect of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table is that he organised the elements in a way that allowed him to predict the existence of undiscovered elements by leaving gaps for them. History shows that his predictions were accurate with the later discoveries of germanium, gallium, and scandium.

Original: Unknown author
Upload: Germansociety2014/Wikicommons

Nobelium (No): Alfred Nobel

As we march along the Actinoid group, we come across the 102nd element: Nobelium. Nobelium’s discovery seems to me, a bit odd. Scientists in Sweden announced the discovery of the element in 1957, but over the years, other sources have cited different years, such as 1958, 1963, and 1966, for the discovery. I don’t know who discovered nobelium first, because it may depend on who you talk to.

What isn’t up for debate is who nobelium was named after. Alfred Nobel was an inventor, engineer, businessman, and chemist who gave the world dynamite, gelignite, ballistite and the detonator, among other things. Nobel bequeathed his fortune to create a foundation to annually recognise people’s achievements for the benefit of humankind. Today, we know them as the Nobel Prizes.

Alfred Nobel. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Lawrencium (Lr): Ernest Lawrence

Lawrencium is the 103rd element of the Periodic Table, and like the others on this list, it’s another synthetic element. Similar to nobelium, lawrencium has been wrapped up in multiple claims of discovery. However, the earliest record of the discovery was in 1961, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, by Albert Ghiorso and a team of scientists.

Lawrencium was named after Ernest Lawrence, who was an accelerator physicist. He invented the cyclotron, which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939, as well as worked on the Manhattan Project. He was also the founder of two laboratories, which were named in his honour after his death: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Ernest Lawrence is perhaps best known for the invention of the cyclotron. Credit: LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

Rutherfordium (Rf): Ernest Rutherford

As a New Zealander, this synthetic element has a special place in our rugby-obsessed hearts. Rutherfordium is the 104th element on the Periodic Table, and it’s a transition metal. Like the two previous entries, Rutherfordium has some controversy around its discovery. Whether it was discovered in 1964 by the Soviets or 1969 by the Americans, Rutherfordium only has a half-life of about 48 minutes.

Rutherfordium is the only element named after a New Zealander; my man, Ernest Rutherford. In 1908, Rutherford received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the disintegration of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. He is also known as “the father of nuclear physics”, for his experiments that proved that the atom is made up of empty space, except for a small positively charged centre.

Rutherford proposed the term “nucleus” to describe the dense, positively charged core of an atom, thus giving him the title of “splitting the atom”, and the New Zealand $100 note was never the same.

Lord Rutherford’s pioneering research on radioactivity and the atom cemented his place as one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. Credit: Bain News Service.

Seaborgium (Sg): Glenn T. Seaborg

It may sound like an alloy from Star Trek, but I promise you it’s not. The 106th element on the Periodic Table is seaborgium, and it’s yet another synthetic element. If I have this correct, both Soviet and American scientists discovered seaborgium, independently from each other in 1974, so its another controversy surrounding the discovery.

As for the naming of the element, that is simple. Seaborgium was named after the chemist, Glenn T. Seaborg. Seaborg helped to discover 10 elements, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and the final one, element 106; which was eventually named seaborgium.

He also won various awards, including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951. Seaborg was responsible for adding the Actinoids strip on the Periodic Table. Cool.

Glenn T. Seaborg, 1968.
Courtesy of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission; photograph, Westcott

Bohrium (Bh): Niels Bohr

Sitting next to seaborgium in the transition metal group, we have the 107th element: Bohrium. There seems to be a trend happening because bohrium also has dual discoveries, with a Soviet team in 1976, as well as a German team in 1981.

People can argue about who discovered what element and when, but bohrium could have only been named after one person: Niels Bohr. Bohr was a Danish physicist, who also dabbled with philosophy. His contributions to science include atomic structure, nuclear fission, and quantum mechanics, but he also won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Niels Bohr Institute, at the University of Copenhagen is also named after him.

Niels Bohr, 1922. Credit: AB Lagrelius & Westpha

Meitnerium (Mt): Elise “Lise” Meitner

Meitnerium is the 109th element on the Periodic Table and another synthetic element. It was discovered by Gottfried Münzenber and Peter Armbruster at the GSI Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany in 1982.

There are only two elements on the Periodic Table named after real women, curium with Marie Curie, and the second is meitnerium, which was named after Lise Meitner. Meitner was a physicist who helped to discover the element protactinium, along with other discoveries like the Auger−Meitner effect and nuclear fission. She won the Max Planck Medal in 1949, the Enrico Fermi Award in 1966, and many other awards.

Credit: NY Times

Roentgenium (Rg): Wilhelm Röntgen

The 111th element is roentgenium, and it’s another transition metal. Just like meitnerium, roentgenium was created at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research Laboratory, by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg, but this time in 1994.

Roentgenium was named after the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, sometimes spelt as Wilhelm Roentgen. Through his work, Röntgen detected a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays.

This radiation became known as X-ray or Röntgen radiation. This discovery meant that in 1901, he was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics.

Photograph of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Copernicium (Cn): Nicolaus Copernicus

We are nearly at the end of the list, with only two to go! Copernicium is the 112th element and once again, was discovered at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. In 1996, a team led by Sigurd Hofmann and Victor Ninov worked for two weeks smashing lead with a beam of zinc ions, that were traveling at 30,000 km per second. The result of this experiment was the creation of a few atoms of copernicium.

If you’re a fan of space or astronomy, you may already know who I’m going to discuss. Copernicium was named after Nicolaus Copernicus, public enemy #1 for Flat Earthers. Copernicus was born in 1473 and achieved a lot in his life, which involved the fields of translation, medicine, economics, mathematics, laws, and diplomacy, but the main thing that he is still known for 500 years later, is his discoveries in astronomy.

Nicolaus Copernicus is often referred to as the father of modern astronomy due to his groundbreaking work, which demonstrated that not only is Earth a planet, but that other planets also orbit the Sun each year. In addition to this discovery, Copernicus explained that Earth rotates daily on its own axis. He also noted that very gradual changes in the direction of this axis are responsible for the precession of the equinoxes.

His model of the solar system is known as the Heliocentric system, which has the Sun at the centre, as opposed to the Geocentric model, which places the Earth at the centre.

Nicolaus Copernicus portrait from Town Hall in Toruń, 1580. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy

Oganesson (Og): Yuri Oganessian

We have spent some time hanging out with the Actinoids and transition metals, but now we need to drift to the right, to visit the Noble Gases. Oganesson is the 118th and latest element to be added to the Periodic Table. It was created by a joint team of Russian and American scientists in 2002, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia.

Oganesson has three cool things going for it. It has the highest atomic number and highest atomic mass of all known elements, it was only formally named as late as 2016, and it’s the second element to be named after a living person, with the first being seaborgium and Glenn T. Seaborg.

And so, for the final time today, Oganesson was named after Yuri Oganessian, a nuclear physicist. His research on superheavy elements led him to help in the discovery of bohrium, meitnerium, hassium, darmstadtium, roentgenium, and copernicium. Oganesson has also been awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal in 2017, and the Demidov Prize in 2019.

Credit: Joint Institute for Nuclear Research

With the other 105 elements on the Periodic Table, their names will hopefully be explained upon multiple entries on this popular and well-respected website.

So that’s it for another blog post and another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, avoid breaking the spacetime continuum whenever possible, and I’ll see you next week.

Tour of the Solar System: Triton

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

One of the many reasons I started this vanity project, was an ill-conceived idea of promoting science literacy. Indeed, I don’t talk enough about science, but every 6-8 weeks, the world’s least asked-for tour, much like a zombie, is resurrected, bumbling and stumbling, stumbling and bumbling into the world.

Yes, search your feelings, you know it to be true! Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is back, with another insightful profile on one of our distant neighbours.

If by a cruel twist of fate you haven’t read any of the previous entries, here is the magnificent list:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

18.) The Moons of Uranus

19.) The Literary Moons of Uranus

20.) Neptune

This is our 21st entry, so without being invited to a dodgy 21st birthday with tequila shots, let’s welcome the new entry into the fold, Triton, where it can proudly stand with The Moon, Titan, and Titania. Cool.

Voyager 2 image of Triton showing the south polar region with dark streaks produced by geysers visible on the icy surface. Credit: NASA/JPL

If you’re a Marvel fan, you would have recognised the name Triton from the Inhumans. He’s the green guy who can breathe underwater, if you don’t already know. Sorry, it can be a surprise that some people don’t know things like that.

Triton and his namesake share a similar quality; they are both quite odd. Neptune has 16 known moons, and Triton is the largest. It has a diameter of 2,710 km, which is roughly the distance between London to Moscow. Triton is the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System, as well as being Neptune’s largest moon. It’s larger than Pluto, just don’t mention it because Pluto is still sensitive about being kicked out of the planet club.

Triton was discovered by William Lassell, on 10th October 1846, a mere 17 days after the discovery of Neptune. As we have already established Triton was not named after a comic book character, but rather the standard way, after a Greek god. Triton was the son of Poseidon (Greek)/Neptune (Roman), the god of the seas and oceans. Oh, if you’re wondering if Poseidon was like his big brother Zeus, by having a wandering eye and not being faithful, then you would be correct.

Triton orbits Neptune at around 354,800 km, which is closer than what the Moon orbits Earth. In addition to this, generally speaking of course, Triton’s distance to the Sun is about 4.3 billion km, which means it takes the Sun’s light about 4 hours to travel that distance to Triton. 4.3 billion km in 4 hours? That’s almost as fast as it takes UMC1 and UMC2 to trash their bedroom.

Do you remember when I said Triton is quite odd? Well, Triton’s orbit and rotation are great examples of this. Among all of the large moons within the Solar System, Triton has the distinctive honour of being the largest moon to have a retrograde orbit around its planet. If you remember from previous tour stops, a moon that has a retrograde orbit, is when a moon orbits the planet’s rotation in the opposite direction.

Triton rotates on its axis every 5.87 days or 5 days and 21 hours, and has an orbital speed of about 4.39 km per second. Triton is also tidally locked, which is when a planet or moon like Triton, matches its rotation period to another cosmic body, like Neptune.

Just like the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, Triton has one side that is always facing Neptune, as it’s locked. If you can somehow survive and live on Neptune, you would only ever see the same side of Triton. I love science!

A lot of the data and information that scientists first used to measure and assess Triton, was made by our old friend, the Voyager 2 spacecraft, as it did a flyby in 1989. When Voyager 2 surveyed Triton, it only managed to map 40% of the surface.

Ok, what else can we learn about the sixteenth-largest object in the Solar System? Triton has some impressive physical features like a large southern polar cap, impact craters, mounds, and pits created by icy lava flows. This is because Triton is an active place for cryovolcanism, with the largest being called Leviathan Patera, which is a caldera that stretches 100 km in diameter. Triton is only a handful of cosmic bodies in the Solar System that has a cryovolcanic network.

Triton’s surface is geologically young and is primarily made of frozen nitrogen (55%), with water ice (15-35%) and some frozen carbon dioxide (10-20%). Some scientists believe that a subsurface ocean of liquid water may exist beneath the icy crust, like several other moons, such as Europa, Enceladus, and Titania. Imagine the possibility of life existing there! Granted, it would be in the form of micro-organisms, but it would still be amazing.

The composition of Triton’s atmosphere is exactly made you would imagine it to be: heavily made of nitrogen (95%), mixed with traces of carbon monoxide and methane. It is about 70,000 times less dense than Earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere extends to about 30 km above the surface, with clouds can be found at around 4 km.

Because of its insane distance from the Sun, and its 30° axial tilt, Triton has seasons that can last 40 years, which is pure nightmare fuel. Westeros has nothing on Triton. And speaking of nightmare fuel, the surface temperature can get down to an average of −235 °C. This makes Triton one of the coldest objects in our Solar System. Even Captain Cold, Iceman, and Mr Freeze would think twice about visiting Triton.

Some other random facts about Triton include:

  • The geysers on Triton eject nitrogen gas from beneath the surface, creating long plumes that can reach heights of up to 8 km.
  • Triton’s density is about twice that of water, making it more dense than almost any other satellite of an outer planet.
  • Scientists believe that Triton is a Kuiper Belt Object that was captured by Neptune’s gravity millions of years ago.
  • In approximately 3.5 billion years, Triton will come too close to Neptune in its orbit, and the planet’s gravitational pull will cause Triton to break apart. This event will lead to the formation of a ring system around Neptune.

There are more things to discuss and write about Triton, but like always, my desire for sleep is stronger. What is your favourite fact about Triton? As always, please let me know, and I hope the tour is living up to its hype.


Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I still write daily nonsense on Twitter and Mastodon, if you want to check it out. Please remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, don’t put tomato in your fruit salad, and I’ll see you next week.

Tour of the Solar System: Neptune

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

In a world filled with people being scared of maps, rainbows, school lunches, questions, and all of the LGBTIQA+ community, it’s nice to know that through the madness, there is something that is still constant and reliable, which is the poor quality of these blog posts.

If you thought the worst tour in the Solar System was over, think again! It’s making a comeback, just like the rise of fascism in the 21st century. Yes, Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is back for its 20th entry.

For the previous entries, please do yourself a favour and check them out. Or not. It’s not like the formula for winning the lottery or the unified field theory is hidden inside them. Or are they?

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

18.) The Moons of Uranus

19.) The Literary Moons of Uranus

We’ve spent a few months talking about Uranus and its moons; four to be precise, so now it’s time to turn our collective attention to its wayward sibling, Neptune.

As always, the disclaimer for the tour is that there are no refunds, and discounted tickets are not available. Sweet, let’s push on and meet Neptune, just don’t tell Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Brian Cox, or Jocelyn Bell Burnell, because they would point and laugh at me.

Side-by-side photos of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in 1989, Hubble in 2021 and Webb in 2022. Photograph: AP

We have finally arrived at the final planet in the Solar System, that we know of. Sorry, Pluto. Neptune is the eighth planet from our local star, the Sun, and it is also the fourth largest planet in the Solar System. It’s the fourth Outer Planet or Gas Giant, and formed around the same as Uranus, about 4.5 billion years ago.

As we traverse this entry, you will see that Neptune and Uranus share a lot of similarities, with some people calling them twins; like Venus and Earth. Not identical twins of course, but still fraternal.

Like the other planets we have met, with Earth and Uranus being the exceptions, the name Neptune comes from Roman mythology. The planet is named after Neptune, the god of oceans, and brother to Jupiter and Pluto. If it helps, Neptune is the Greek equivalent of Poseidon.

Like its twin, Neptune was discovered through mathematical prediction, but also observations of Uranus. Its discovery was built on many different astronomers’ work, because even in 1612 and 1613, Galileo observed and recorded Neptune as a fixed star, while he surveyed space with his small telescope.

However, over the night of 23rd-24th September 1846, Neptune was officially discovered by three astronomers, Johann Galle, Urbain Le Verrier, and John Couch Adams. It only took about three months for the name of Neptune to stick with the press, and the rest, just like the Concorde, is history.

Since Neptune is a gas giant, you would expect it to be larger than the home planet of Salt and Vinegar chips, and you would be correct. Neptune has a diameter of about 49,528 km, which means you could fit 57 Earths inside it. Hopefully, there would still be some Earths left in the multiverse after that rearrangement.

Speaking of Earth, we share something in common with our older, bigger sibling. Not only do we like the colour blue, but we both have an elliptical orbit. Actually, to be fair, all eight planets have one. At its perihelion, which is its closest point to the Sun, the distance is 4.46 billion km, with its aphelion is 4.54 billion km, which works out to be an average orbital distance of 4.5 billion km, along with an average orbital speed of 5.43 km/s. That’s an impressive speed, though it’s still slower than The Flash.

Because of Neptune’s massive distance from the Sun, it roughly takes 4 hours and 12 minutes for sunlight to reach the planet. That is the same length of time as Blade Runner and Uncut Gems combined, as a reference.

Neptune’s rotation is on a whole new level of awesome. The length of time that it takes Neptune to complete one rotation on its axis, which equals one day, is about 16 hours, measured by Earth’s standards. However, one year on Neptune, which is the time it takes to complete one single orbit of the Sun; just one orbit, takes about 165 Earth years.

For context, and roughly speaking, the last time Neptune was in its present location in time and space, when this charming blog post was published, the year was 1860. The First Taranaki War in New Zealand, between the British Crown and Māori had started; the chemist, Stanislao Cannizzaro presented his table of atomic weights at the Karlsruhe Congress; and the slave population in the United States was close to 4 million, with the Civil War starting the following year.

Here is a fun fact for people looking for an icebreaker at a singles event. Every 248 Earth years, Pluto has such a batshit crazy orbit, that it brings it inside Neptune’s orbit. This lasts for about 20 years, and the last time it happened was between 1979-1999. That meant from 1979 to 1999, Neptune, not Pluto, was the furthest planet in our Solar System.

Earth’s axial tilt is 23.4°, which is how and why we have the changing of seasons. Neptune has a similar tilt at 28.32°. This means Neptune has seasonal changes like Earth, but instead of seasons lasting three months like us, Neptune’s seasons last over 40 years, because of its 165-year orbit. And you thought your commute to work was long.

As you can imagine, because of its long distance from the Sun, it’s not really the place Wham! could party to Club Tropicana. Neptune’s temperature and atmosphere are like an episode of the Twilight Zone. The average temperature on Neptune is a balmy -200 °C, which is -110.8°C colder than the lowest temperature recorded on Earth, at −89.2 °C; which is still slightly colder than my feet, at any given time during winter.

Neptune’s atmosphere isn’t that much better. It has a mixture of hydrogen, helium, methane, hydrogen deuteride, ethane, ammonia, water ice, and ammonium hydrosulfide; you know, all the stuff that life as we know it hates. Remember that Neptune is a gas giant, and not for its obsession with baked beans.

Neptune’s blue colour comes from the methane in its atmosphere, and scientists have observed a huge, dark spot in its southern atmosphere, quite similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. 

The Great Dark Spot is a massive, oval-shaped storm or vortex roughly the size of Earth. However, advancements in technology have allowed scientists to observe that the Great Dark Spot has significantly decreased in size over the years.

If Sauron, the Dark Lord of Middle-Earth, was allowed an expansion pack, he would include Neptune in it. As I have said previously, there are only four planets in the Solar System with rings, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and of course, Neptune. It can’t compete with its siblings over its quantity of rings, but it has five more rings than Earth does.

Some things in this life are worth repeating, but I love scientists and their work. However, their ability to give things cool names, sometimes works out. Starting near Neptune and moving outward, the planet has five rings and four arcs, which include stellar names like Galle, Leverrier, Lassell, Arago, and Adams (rings), with Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, and Courage (arcs).

If you have been keeping up, you would have noticed that Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité, are the motto of the French Revolution and Republic, which means, liberty, equality, and fraternity. You have to love the French though, just not their rugby.

Neptune has moons as well, 16 to be completely accurate, although there could be more to be discovered. Triton is by far the largest moon, with all of them being named after characters in Greek mythology, in some way connected to Poseidon (Neptune).

I’ve shared quite a bit about Neptune already, but there’s one more topic I’d like to discuss: its winds. Neptune is the windiest planet in the Solar System, with winds that are three times stronger than those on Jupiter and nine times stronger than those on Earth.

They can reach speeds of over 2,000 km/h, which is supersonic, meaning the winds are travelling faster than the speed of sound, which is 1,235 km/h. Imagine clouds of frozen methane being whipped around the planet faster than the speed of sound. The fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth was 408 km/h. These are mind-crushing numbers.

There’s more to talk about Neptune, but like I said, I’ve shared enough today. What is your favourite fact about Neptune? As always, please let me know.

Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m still hanging out on Twitter and Mastodon, posting daily facts about things that interest me, and some things that don’t.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, continue to tell Nazis to fuck off, and I’ll see you next week.

Slava Ukraini!

The Final Experiment: The Flat Earth Fallout

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn People, Science

So, how are things with you? Hmm.. that’s a mixed bag, isn’t it? As for me, I’m back at work, with UMC1 and UMC2 returning to school this week. Suffice to say, they are not too happy about that. Would you like to know some other people that are not happy? Flat Earthers.

But why are Flat Earthers unhappy, because we all know they’re such an upbeat, positive, open-minded, tolerant community. The answer is in the title because they are losing their collective minds over the Final Experiment.

Let’s do the responsible thing, and not let our friends use Comics San and go over what the Final Experiment was all about. To quote a somewhat lazy writer, “The Final Experiment is an observational showdown/trip between Team Globe (people who accept and understand we live on a globe) and Team Flat Earth (people who believe that the Earth is flat and deny reality).

It was created by Will Duffy, a pastor in Denver, Colorado, USA. It involves the concept of settling the argument about the shape of our planet, by inviting people to travel to Antarctica, this December, to confirm whether the 24-hour Sun exists or not.”

To the best of my understanding of the Flat Earth community, there is no official Flat Earth model, however, one of the most popular and beloved is the Alexander Gleason map. This map represents the planet on a 2-D surface, with the Arctic in the middle, with the other land masses centred around it.

Members of “The Final Experiment” group explore Antarctica in December 2024. (Photo courtesy of Will Duffy)

This of course means that on this map, Antarctica is not a massive continent at the bottom of the globe, but rather land that runs along the edge of the Earth, the so-called ice-wall. I know, I’m a Game of Thrones fan as well.

One of the many, many issues with that map, is the explanation of the Midnight Sun or the 24-hour Sun. Basically, on a Flat Earth, a Midnight Sun is only possible in the Arctic, as you can imagine, but impossible in Antarctica.

So imagine the idea, that you could travel to Antarctica in December; because remember, a Midnight Sun is only visible during Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and you could witness it. This would either prove the existence of a Globe Earth or a Flat Earth. Simple enough, isn’t it?

Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions’ 757 lands directly on the ice in Antarctica in December 2024. (Photo courtesy of Will Duffy)

If we’re up to speed, let’s discuss the Final Experiment. Will Duffy and a mixed group of Globe Earthers and Flat Earthers travelled to Antarctica in December 2024, which is where Flat Earthers said you were not allowed to visit.

I think Duffy paid for three people to go, while the others crowdfunded to pay for the trip. I mean, it’s not like you’re travelling to the other side of a large city.

Because the Antarctic Midnight Sun only allows for a small window of time to witness it, the expedition was organised so they could arrive in time for the event. And so, what happened? I’ll give you a clue, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.

No, it wasn’t a penguin turf war, but a 24-hour Sun. Wow, but a surprise. Here is a time-lapsed tracked view of the Midnight Sun in Antarctica, by Dave McKeegan, who went on the Final Experiment expedition.

But the point of this blog post is not to discuss that all of the observational and investigational science was correct, because of course it was. Oh no, the point is to discuss the fallout and aftermath to the Flat Earth community.

In a previous blog post about the Final Experiment, I hypothesised about what the Flat Earth community might say or do, pending the observations of the Midnight Sun. These included:

1.) Some people will believe and accept the images and footage presented to them by fellow Flat Earthers of a Midnight Sun to be real and accept the truth, that the world is a globe and not flat.

2.) Some people will believe and accept the images and footage presented to them by fellow Flat Earthers of a Midnight Sun to be real, but will deny that it proves the shape of the planet, one way or another.

3.) Some people will deny the evidence of the Midnight Sun, and of the Globe. This will be because they weren’t there to confirm the validity of the claims, but images and footage can be changed, so why would they believe anything? The photos are fake, the footage is CGI, and the Flat Earther participants are lying and can’t be trusted.

A special camp for “The Final Experiment” is seen in the foreground, with Union Glacier Camp in the middle and Mount Rossman in the background, in Antarctica in December 2024. (Photo courtesy of Will Duffy)

I’ll be honest here, I do feel like a terrible human being, and I’m a little ashamed of myself, because I’ve taken great delight in the Flat Earth community’s desperate responses to explain the Final Experiment, and they have not let me down.

In some cases, it’s like a civil war has broken out within the community because they don’t know what to do. Some of their responses and conspiracy theories have included and are not limited to:

  • The footage is genuine, but it was previously filmed in the Arctic, six months earlier. (This conspiracy theory falls apart concerning the live-streaming.)
  • The footage is genuine and live-streamed, but it was not filmed in Antarctica, but on location somewhere else. (This conspiracy theory falls apart because even if it wasn’t filmed in Antarctica, a Midnight Sun should not be possible on a Flat Earth in December.)
  • The footage is fake and edited because you can’t travel and visit Antarctica because of the Antarctic Treaty. Antarctica is guarded and protected by the world’s military. (Where do I even begin with this?)
  • The footage is fake and edited because it was filmed in a studio in front of a green screen. (This conspiracy theory is destroyed because of the live-streaming.)
  • All Globe Earthers are not to be trusted, because they are all liars. (The response does not help or promote the Flat Earth model.)
  • The Globe Earther participants in the Final Experiment lie for a living, and the Flat Earther participants are sell-outs, so it’s all lies. (So everybody involved in the expedition are liars because they said they went to Antarctica?)
  • Analysing the footage and deciding that different angles of shadows and their length, prove it was staged and fake. (This has been debunked by images of non-Antarctic regions.)
  • The absence of the participants’ breath, proves they were not in a cold environment like Antarctica. (Footage has shown people’s breath as they exhaled.)
  • Someone caught vaping (It’s been called Vapegate) on live-stream, proves they were trying to mimic breath, so the whole project is fake. (Dave McKeegan does an excellent job of explaining this.)
  • Flat Earthers are complaining about the lack of footprints because it proves the snow is CGI; there are too many footprints, which proves it’s filmed on a set, and the Sun changes shape, which means it’s CGI.
  • One Flat Earther built a working Flat Earth model to explain the Midnight Sun in Antarctica, by having some sort of sky that is fluid. (The problem is that nearly every other natural phenomenon fails in this working model, like rainbows and solar eclipses).
  • One Flat Earther said the footage was filmed at Amazon Studios LED Wall Virtual Production Stage. (They have no real evidence apart from an AI voiceover).

This is my favourite conspiracy theory though:

Two of the Flat Earthers that went on the expedition have had their faces scanned by other Flat Earthers. The conclusion is that these two men have female skulls, which means that they are female; or at least transgender. The implications are that if these two men can not be truthful about their identity and gender, then they can not be trusted to tell the truth about the Midnight Sun. (So if they are transgendered, and everything they have said about the Midnight Sun is a lie, then everything they said before the expedition, about the Flat Earth model, was a lie as well?)

It’s also interesting that some Flat Earthers like to dabble with other conspiracy theories about the trans community as well.

After everything they have responded to, the consensus of the Flat Earth community regarding the Final Experiment seems to be, that yes, the participants did travel to Antarctica, and yes, they did witness a Midnight Sun.

However, witnessing the Midnight Sun in Antarctica is a single observation. It happened, but it doesn’t mean anything. The existence of a Midnight Sun does not prove the geometry of the Earth. It’s just an observation, like seeing rain clouds or a rainbow; it doesn’t mean or prove anything to them.

To quote Creaky Blinder, everyone’s favourite Welsh YouTuber, regarding Flat Earthers dismissing evidence:

You all ignore any piece of evidence that’s presented to you unless it backs up what you already believe.

As I said previously, the results of the Final Experiment would cause some Flat Earthers to abandon their crusade, namely Jeran Campanella, but not all of them. Being a professional Flat Earther means you’re a grifter, whether on purpose or by accident, so players are going to play, haters are going to hate, and grifters are going to grift. This is how they make their living, it’s their job. A real Flat Earther would never let evidence stop them from grifting.

What’s been your favourite response from the Flat Earth community about the Final Experiment? As always, please let me know.

That’s another blog for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, remember that #FactsMatter and I’ll see you next week, where I’m going to be discussing the Last Son of Krypton.

Tour of the Solar System: The Literary Moons of Uranus

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

And so it begins again. With a new year and a new month comes another sensational blog post about a tour that nobody on our planet has ever requested. Yes, Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System is back!

We are entering the third year of the tour, and this is our 19th stop. Amazingly, the tour is still ongoing, though I can’t understand why given my writing skills. If you missed the previous entries, don’t worry! Here’s a helpful list of important tour stops:

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

18.) The Moons of Uranus

Now some of you good people would have noticed that we are sitting at an unusual junction, since we don’t have three entries related to a single planet, but four. I know, it’s odd. Saturn was our last planet, which covered Saturn, Titan, and the Moons of Saturn.

However, Uranus is sick of being in their big sibling’s shadow and has demanded an additional entry to accompany the blog posts of Uranus, Titania, and the Moons of Uranus.

And if you’ve got eyes like Sherlock Holmes or Batman, you would have also noticed that this is the third entry concerning the Moons of Uranus. No, I haven’t run out of ideas yet. It’s just that the Moons of Uranus need an additional entry, in my biased and humble opinion.

I have waffled on about this before, so today, I want to expand upon it, mainly because when it comes to bad ideas, I’m extremely well-versed in them. So have your cameras ready, because we are going to be discussing the names of the Moons of Uranus. Booyakasha!

A montage of Uranus’ large moons and one smaller moon: from left to right Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. Other moons are not yet photographed in detail. Original pictures were taken by NASA’s Voyager 2. Size proportions are correct. Credit: NASA

You could be reading this blog post on the bus, at home, at work, or standing in line to purchase some glorious Salt and Vinegar chips, but you would be guilty of thinking of one question; no, not that one. Yes, that one. What is so special about the Moons of Uranus? It’s a fair question, so your mother would be proud of you.

Not only does Uranus belong to several social clubs like the gas giants, planets with rings, and ultracold, but it also belongs to another selective group. In this case, it has multiple natural satellites or moons. Uranus has 28 known moons, and they are all different and unique, whether it’s their size, shape, rotation, or composition.

I apologise if I’m repeating myself, but I want to highlight what makes the moons of Uranus unique compared to other moons in the Solar System. Unlike most moons, which are named after deities from Roman or Greek mythology, the moons of Uranus have different origins for their names. Even our own Moon has a name that sounds like it came from a group of astronomers who got drunk at a meeting.

No, the Moons of Uranus, which are also known as the Literary Moons of Uranus, are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, both literary geniuses in their own way.

With Shakespeare, 24 characters from several of his plays have had moons named after them in the Uranian system. As for Pope, his contribution to the naming process lies in his poem called, The Rape of the Lock. First published in 1712, it contains three characters that have moons named after them.

The trend started with John Herschel, who was by all accounts, an overachiever. He was the son of William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Uranus, Titania and Oberon, and made other astronomical observations and discoveries. Titania and Oberon were discovered in 1787 but did not receive names until 1852.

Since then, the trend for naming Uranian moons after literary characters, instead from Roman or Greek mythology caught on, and for over 150 years, people have still been doing it to maintain the tradition.

In my infinite wisdom and because I like data, I’ve decided to present these moons in a table, to best represent how amazing, cool, and a little nerdy, these moons actually are. I’ve ranked them by the order they were discovered in. Enjoy!

Name of MoonYear of discoverySource of nameName of workWho the character is
Titania 1787William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s DreamQueen of the Fairies
Oberon1787William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s DreamKing of the Fairies
Ariel1851Alexander PopeThe Rape of the Lock & The Tempest  An airy spirit & a spirit in service to Prospero
Umbriel1851Alexander PopeThe Rape of the LockThe chief gnome
Miranda 1948William ShakespeareThe Tempest  Daughter to Prospero
Puck 1985William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s DreamOberon’s knavish sprite
Cordelia1986William ShakespeareKing LearLear’s youngest daughter
Ophelia 1986William ShakespeareHamletPolonius’ daughter
Bianca1986William ShakespeareThe Taming of the ShrewSister of Katherina
Cressida1986William ShakespeareTroilus and Cressida  Calchas’ daughter
Desdemona1986William ShakespeareOthello  Othello’s wife
Juliet 1986William ShakespeareRomeo and JulietThe 13-year-old daughter of Capulet, is the play’s female protagonist
Portia 1986William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice  A rich heiress; later the wife of Bassanio
Rosalind1986William ShakespeareAs You Like It  Duke Senior’s daughter
Belinda1986Alexander PopeThe Rape of the LockA young lady with beautiful hair and the victim of a vile crime
Caliban1997William ShakespeareThe Tempest  An enslaved servant of Prospero
Sycorax 1997William ShakespeareThe Tempest  A witch and the mother of Caliban
Perdita1999William ShakespeareThe Winter’s Tale  The daughter of Leontes and Hermione, unaware of her royal lineage
Stephano1999William ShakespeareThe Tempest  The King’s drunken butler
Prospero1999William ShakespeareThe Tempest  The rightful Duke of Milan and a magician
Setebos 1999William ShakespeareThe Tempest  The deity purportedly worshipped by the witch Sycorax
Francisco2001William ShakespeareThe Tempest  A lord serving under Alonso
Trinculo2001William ShakespeareThe Tempest  The King’s jester
Ferdinand2001William ShakespeareThe Tempest  Alonso’s son
Cupid 2003William ShakespeareTimon of Athens  The Roman God of desire, erotic love, attraction, and affection
Mab2003William ShakespeareRomeo and Juliet  The queen of the fairies
Margaret  2003William ShakespeareMuch Ado About Nothing  Waiting-gentlewoman attendant on Hero
S/2023 U 1  2023This moon is not named yet    

As you can see, The Tempest wins the award for the most characters named after moons, though I’m not sure what the prize is. I bet Shakespeare has been pointing that out to Kit Marlowe.

Also, S/2023 U 1 was only discovered in November 2023, and to my best understanding, it has not been given an official name yet. Whether the name comes from The Rape of the Lock or one of Shakespeare’s plays, we will just have to wait and see.

What’s your favourite Moon of Uranus or literary character on the list? As always, please let me know. That’s another blog for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m still on Twitter and Mastodon, posting daily things about different subjects, but I do love #FactsMatter.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, look out for the time travellers at the inauguration, and I’ll see you next week.

Tour of the Solar System: The Moons of Uranus

On By somegeektoldme@gmail.comIn Science

The world seems a little dark and bleak at the moment, so what better time for Some Geek Told Me’s Tour of the Solar System to return! That and I believe it’s well overdue. So it’s back, the tour nobody in the history of this planet has asked for is back for another month.

If you’re one of these unlucky people who have missed the tour stops, fear not because here is the list of the previous stops.

1.) Meet the Family

2.) The Sun

3.) Planets vs. Dwarf planets

4.) Mercury

5.) Venus

6.) Earth

7.) The Moon

8.) Mars

9.) The Asteroid Belt

10.) Ceres

11.) Jupiter

12.) The Galilean moons

13.) Saturn

14.) Titan

15.) The Moons of Saturn

16.) Uranus

17.) Titania

Our last amazing tour stop was at Uranus’ largest moon, Titania. This means we’re moving on from discussing the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight, and on to the other moons of Uranus. Not all of them, of course, but some of them.

A near-infrared image of the six largest moons and eight inner moons of Uranus as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope on 4 September 2023. Credit: NASA’s James Webb Telescope and team

Even though Uranus’ bigger siblings, Jupiter and Saturn, can get a lot of attention from space enthusiasts, Uranus can still bring them to the yard. Uranus has 28 confirmed moons, which is more than the moons of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and even Pluto combined. That’s impressive.1

As I mentioned in my excellent blog post about Uranus, the names of its moons are not derived from Roman or Greek mythology like other moons in our solar system, but rather characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. I’ve always thought this was literary genius. You would not find that information on any Flat Earth social media account, I promise you.

Since we met Titania last time, I will only discuss the next five largest moons, purely because I’m old, hungry, and tired. Plus the All Blacks won five games, then lost one, so I’m wallowing in self-doubt.

So, let’s do this!

Oberon:

Oberon is named after King Oberon, the king of the fairies, from Shakespeare’s rom-com, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Oberon has a diameter of 1,522 km, making it the second-largest moon of Uranus, after Titania. Oberon is the farthest of Uranus’ five major moons, at an average distance of 584,000 km.

It was discovered by William Herschel in 1787; the same William Herschel who discovered Uranus in 1781. Like several other moons in the solar system, Oberon resembles our Moon, because of its colour and crater-covered surface.

And just because I think it’s cool, some of Oberon’s surface features bear names like Antony, Caesar, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and Romeo; which are named after famous Shakespearian characters.

Processed using green, violet, and unfiltered images of Oberon (moon of Uranus) taken by Voyager 2 on January 24 1986. Original data is taken from NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Umbriel:

Umbriel was discovered by William Lassell in 1851. By the way, please remember Lassell’s name, because he is going to pop up again. Umbriel has a diameter of 1,169 km, making it the third-largest moon of Uranus. Its name is taken from a character in the 1712 poem, The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope.

Umbriel orbits Uranus at about 266,000 km, which makes it the third farthest from the planet among its five major moons. Umbriel is covered with craters and canyons, but what makes it odd is the fact that the surface does not reflect a lot of light, which is less than half as much light as Ariel, another of Uranus’ moons of similar size. This works out to be only 16% of the light that strikes its surface is reflected.

According to spectrograph data, scientists believe that about 40% of Umbriel’s mass is a dense non-ice component, along with water ice and carbon dioxide on the surface. Umbriel is a moon that scientists would love to research more.

The southern hemisphere of Umbriel displays heavy cratering in this Voyager 2 image, taken Jan. 24, 1986, from a distance of 557,000 kilometers (346,000 miles).
Credit: NASA/JPL

Ariel:

And speaking of Ariel, this moon is crazy. It’s the fourth-largest moon of Uranus, with a diameter of about 1,157 km. It was discovered in 1781, by Lassell again, on the same day of his Umbriel discovery. As for the name, Ariel was named after two characters, from the aforementioned The Rape of the Lock, but also The Tempest, by Shakespeare.

Out of the five major moons of Uranus, Ariel is the second closest to the planet, with an orbiting distance of about 190,000 km. Unlike Umbriel, Ariel is the most reflective moon of Uranus, and it’s believed that Ariel’s surface is the youngest of Uranus’ moons, making it the brightest.

Ariel is tidally locked with Uranus, meaning it rotates synchronously with its orbit, so it keeps the same face toward the planet; just like our Moon does to Earth. This process has meant that given its distance from the Sun, Ariel experiences extreme seasonal cycles of permanent day or night, that last 42 years. And if you cast your mind back to my post about Uranus, you’ll remember that this crazy-ass event occurs on Uranus as well.

Ariel in greyscale as imaged by Voyager 2 in 1986. Processed by Kevin M. Gill, taken from data by NASA/JPL-Caltech

Miranda:

Before you ask, no, Uranus does not have any more moons with names of characters from Sex in the City. Fans of Carrie, Charlotte, and Samantha will survive, unlike Mr. Big. Ouch. The real origin of the name comes from Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, from The Tempest, by every English teacher’s favourite cult hero, William Shakespeare.

Miranda is the fifth-largest of Uranus’ moons, but also the smallest and innermost of the moons. Relatively speaking, Miranda was discovered quite recently in 1948, by Gerard Kuiper. It had the designation of Uranus V before it was given the name, Miranda.

This moon is only 470 km in diameter, which is one-seventh the size of our Moon. Miranda’s total surface area is about equal to that of the U.S. state of Texas. Miranda is tidally locked, just like Ariel, as well as sharing the extreme seasonal cycles.

Miranda’s surface is a collection of valleys, grooves, fault scarps, and cratered highlands, but it also has terrain that could be less than 100 million years old. This suggests that the moon may still be geologically active.

Uranus’ icy moon Miranda, captured by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on Jan. 24, 1986. Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech

Puck:

Our last stop for today is at Puck. Not named after Wolverine’s friend in Alpha Flight, but rather the spite in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by…and all together now, William Shakespeare! 10 points to Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff represent!

Puck is the sixth-largest of Uranus’ moons, but only has a diameter of 162 km. This strange moon was discovered by images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, and Stephen P. Synnott, an astronomer and Voyager scientist at JPL, in 1985.

Puck’s orbit sits between the rings of Uranus and Miranda, the first of the planet’s large moons. It orbits Uranus in less than one Earth day and has a dark, heavily cratered surface with spectral signs of water ice. 

One extra interesting thing about Puck is that the moon has three craters named Bogle, Butz, and Lob, which are named after misbehaving spirits from Scottish, German, and British folklore and legends.

 Image taken from Voyager 2/NASA on 24 January 1986 of the Uranian moon Puck.

There are 22 other moons to discuss, but alas, my hourly rate of $0.00 has come to an end today. What’s your favourite moon of Uranus? As always, please let me know.

Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m still on Twitter and Mastodon, trying to bore people with useless facts.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch out for Lauren Boebert’s underwater alien bases and hybrids, and I’ll see you next week.

1 Yes, it’s true that Mercury and Venus do not have any moons, but what I said still counts.