Moons of Uranus and Neptune Codexery

Hippocamp (moon)

Small inner moon of Neptune, possibly born from an impact on Proteus.

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It orbits Neptune every 22 hours and 48 minutes at a distance of 105,283 km, between the moons Larissa and Proteus.[1][2] Hippocamp has a diameter estimated at 34.8 km, and it is the second-smallest known moon of Neptune.[3][4]

Key facts and history

Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute discovered Hippocamp on 1 July 2013 while examining archival Hubble Space Telescope images from 2009.[5][6] Showalter used a digital warping technique to compensate for orbital motion and found the moon as a faint white dot beyond Neptune's ring system.[7][6] He confirmed the discovery by analyzing over 150 archival Hubble images from 2004 to 2009, identifying the moon at ten different observation times.[8][6] The moon was too dim to be detected by Voyager 2 during its 1989 Neptune flyby.[8][6]

The International Astronomical Union announced the discovery on 15 July 2013, giving the moon the provisional designation S/2004 N 1.[9][10] The moon received its permanent Roman numeral designation Neptune XIV on 25 September 2018.[10] Showalter proposed the name Hippocamp, after the mythological sea creature, which was approved by the IAU on 20 February 2019.[11][12]

What the cited sources add

The ESA/Hubble press release states that Hippocamp is believed to be a fragment of its larger neighbor Proteus.[12] Voyager 2 images from 1989 show a large impact crater on Proteus almost large enough to have shattered the moon.[12][4] The HubbleSite release notes that Hippocamp is 1/1000th the mass of Proteus and that the two moons are now about 12,070 km apart.[4] The ESA/Hubble release describes Hippocamp as a third-generation satellite that formed from debris after comet bombardment.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Showalter, "The seventh inner moon of Neptune", Nature, February 2019, p. 350–353 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Showalter, "The seventh inner moon of Neptune", Nature, February 2019, p. 350–353; "Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon", HubbleSite, 20 February 2019; Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1; Showalter, "The seventh inner moon of Neptune", Nature, February 2019, p. 350–353; Verbiscer, "A new moon for Neptune", Nature, 20 February 2019, p. 328–329 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. "Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon", HubbleSite, 20 February 2019. facts only, no text reused. hubblesite.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hippocamp", science.nasa.gov, 5 November 2024; Beatty, "Neptune's Newest Moon", Sky & Telescope, 15 July 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon", HubbleSite, 15 July 2013. facts only, no text reused. hubblesite.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Showalter, "The seventh inner moon of Neptune", Nature, February 2019, p. 350–353; "Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon", HubbleSite, 15 July 2013; Beatty, "Neptune's Newest Moon", Sky & Telescope, 15 July 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon", HubbleSite, 15 July 2013; Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1; Showalter, "How to Photograph a Racehorse ...and how this relates to a tiny moon of Neptune", Cosmic Diary, 15 July 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon", HubbleSite, 15 July 2013; Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1; Beatty, "Neptune's Newest Moon", Sky & Telescope, 15 July 2013; Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1; "Hubble Finds New Neptune Moon", HubbleSite, 15 July 2013; Beatty, "Neptune's Newest Moon", Sky & Telescope, 15 July 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Showalter, "New Satellite of Neptune: S/2004 N 1", Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 15 July 2013, p. 1; Showalter, "Neptune's Evolving Inner Moons and Ring-Arcs", Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, October 2015, p. 14217; "M.P.C. 111804", Minor Planet Circular, 25 September 2018; "M.P.C. 111804", Minor Planet Circular, 25 September 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Hippocamp (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers", Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature; "Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon", HubbleSite, 20 February 2019; Billings, "Neptune's New Moon May Be Named after One of Sea God's Monstrous Children", Scientific American, 18 July 2013; Beatty, "Meet Hippocamp, Neptune's Smallest Moon", Sky & Telescope, 20 February 2019; "Name Approved for Neptunian Satellite: Hippocamp", Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, 20 February 2019; "Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May en.wikipedia.org
  12. "Hubble helps uncover origin of Neptune's smallest moon Hippocamp", Spacetelescope.org, 20 February 2019. facts only, no text reused. spacetelescope.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hippocamp (moon) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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