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Summary: letters to nature
166 NATURE |VOL 412 |12 JULY 2001 |www.nature.com
to Neptune, whereas the second-largest moons (like Caliban or
S/2000 S 3) would have magnitudes of 24±25. Thus if a similar
irregular system is present around Neptune, its smaller members
were beyond the limits of the deepest known survey3
and Nereid
(Neptune's only distant satellite) is only the brightest member of a
population waiting patiently to be discovered. M
Received 15 February; accepted 9 May 2001.
1. Peale, S. J. Origin and evolution of the natural satellites. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 37, 533±602
(1999).
2. Gladman, B. J. et al. Discovery of two distant irregular moons of Uranus. Nature 392, 897±899
(1998).
3. Gladman, B. J. et al. The discovery of Uranus XIX, XX, and XXI. Icarus 147, 320±324 (2000); erratum
148, 320 (2000).
4. Marsden, B. G. S/1999 J 1. IAU Circ. 7460 (2000).
5. Marsden, B. G. S/1975 J 1 = S/2000 J 1. IAU Circ. 7640 (2000).
6. Green, D. Satellites of Jupiter. IAU Circ. 7555 (2001).
7. Pollack, J. B., Burns, J. A. & Tauber, M. E. Gas drag in primordial circumplanetary envelopes: A
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