![\"Researchers](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2019\/02\/neptune-moon-hippocamp-300x158.png\")
<\/div>Moon Boon<\/h2>
In 2013, scientists discovered<\/a> a tiny moon orbiting Neptune. They gave it the forgettable name S\/2004 N 1, but it soon earned the nickname of “the moon that shouldn’t be there<\/a>,” because its size and placement didn’t make sense to astronomers.<\/p> Now, a team of planetary scientists has not only given Neptune’s 14th moon a more memorable moniker — Hippocamp — but also unraveled some of the mystery surrounding its origin.<\/p> In a paper<\/a> published on Wednesday in the journal Nature<\/em>, the researchers shared the results of several years of analysis about Neptune’s tiniest moon.<\/p> According to their research, Hippocamp is just 20 miles in diameter and a thousandth of the mass of Proteus, the much-larger moon next to it. It also zips around Neptune at a speed of about 20,000 miles an hour, which is 10 times faster than our Moon circles Earth.<\/p> The new name, meanwhile, refers to a mythological sea creature that’s half-horse and half-fish — fitting for a moon orbiting the planet named after the Roman god of the sea.<\/p> So that’s what the researchers learned about Hippocamp, but it doesn’t answer the question as to why “the moon that shouldn’t be there” is<\/em> there.<\/p> The answer, according to the researchers, is that it probably wasn’t always.<\/p> If Hippocamp was around 4 billion years ago, Proteus would have likely destroyed the smaller moon while clearing its orbit around Neptune. This led the researchers to conclude that Hippocamp likely formed when a chunk of Proteus broke off following a collision with a comet or asteroid.<\/p> “This is the first really great example of a moon that got created as a result of an impact,” researcher Mark Showalter told Space.com<\/a>.<\/p> READ MORE: <\/strong>Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken From Larger Moon<\/a> [SETI Institute]<\/p> More on the Moon: New Research: Earth’s Atmosphere Extends Well Beyond the Moon<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> The post Meet Hippocamp, “The Moon That Shouldn’t Be There”<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Read the original post: Moon Boon In 2013, scientists discovered a tiny moon orbiting Neptune.\u00a0They gave it the forgettable\u00a0name S\/2004 N 1, but it soon earned the nickname of \u201c the moon that shouldn\u2019t be there ,\u201d because its size and placement didn\u2019t make sense to astronomers. Now, a team of planetary scientists has not only given Neptune\u2019s 14th moon a more memorable moniker\u00a0\u2014 Hippocamp\u00a0\u2014 but also unraveled some of the mystery surrounding its origin. Tiny, but Fast In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Nature , the researchers shared the results of several years of analysis about Neptune\u2019s tiniest moon. Continue reading Tiny, but Fast<\/h2>
Splinter Satellite<\/h2>
Meet Hippocamp, “The Moon That Shouldn’t Be There”<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"