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Canku Ota

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(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

 

September 6, 2003 - Issue 95

 
 

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Saturn's Moons Named after Inuit Characters

 
 
by CBC Canada
 
 
credits: Some of Saturn's Moons by NASA
 
IQALUIT, Nunavut - Four of 12 new moons discovered around Saturn in the fall of 2000 have now officially been given Inuktitut names.

Kavelaars' moons appear as little more than points in a telescope.

The decision was announced late last month at the Astronomical Union's meeting in Sydney Australia.

Canadian J.J. Kavelaars was one of the three astronomers who discovered the new moons.

He named one of them after Ijiraq, a mythological Inuit creature he had read about in a children's book written by Michael Kusugak.

Kusugak says he read an article about Kavelaars and found out the astronomer was looking for Inuit names for three more moons.

"Apparently this Canadian, J.J. Kavelaars reads my books to his children and he wanted to name one of those moons 'Ijiraq' after a character in one of my books," he says.

Two of the moons are named after the mythological characters Kiviuq and Siarnaq, or Sedna.

A third is named after Paaliaq, a character Kusugak created for a novel he is working on.

The newly-discovered satellites are about 50 km across and likely icy moons; the remnants of asteroids or comets captured by the planet's gravity long-ago. The satellites orbit Saturn at distances of around 15 million kilometers from the planet.

"These are chunks of material left over from the formation of the solar system", says Kavelaars.

Saturn's Dirty Dozen
http://www.nature.com/nsu/010712/010712-12.html

Michael Kusugak
http://www.annickpress.com/ai/kusugak.html

Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada Map

Maps by Expedia.com Travel
www.expedia.com

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  Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.  
 

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