Three New Moons for Neptune
13 Jan 2003
(Source: International Astronomical Union)
Circular No. 8047
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
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SATELLITES OF NEPTUNE
M. Holman, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA); J. Kavelaars, National Research Council of Canada; T. Grav, University of Oslo and CfA; and W. Fraser and D. Milisavljevic, McMaster University, report the discovery of three satellites of Neptune on CCD images obtained in Aug. 2002 with the 4-m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo. Team members B. Gladman, J.-M. Petit, P. Rousselot, and O. Mousis conducted follow-up observations with the European Southern Observatory 8.2-m UT3 telescope, as did Grav with the 2.6-m Nordic Optical Telescope and P. Nicholson, Gladman, and V. Carruba with the 5-m Hale Telescope at Palomar; B. G. Marsden and R. Jacobson provided orbital predictions. The astrometry, with orbital elements (assuming identity with single- night observations made in 2001 with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea and the Blanco telescope) and ephemerides by Marsden, appear on MPEC 2003-A75: S/2002 N 1, a = 0.147 AU, e = 0.43, i = 121 deg (to the ecliptic), H = 9.7; S/2002 N 2, a = 0.135, e = 0.17 (assumed), i = 57 deg, H = 11.0; S/2002 N 3, a = 0.143, e = 0.47 (assumed), i = 43 deg, H = 10.6.
(C) Copyright 2003 CBAT
2003 January 13 (8047) Daniel W. E. Green
