- Andrew Prentice
Andrew Prentice is an Australian mathematician. He is known for having made a range of unorthodox yet accurate predictions about the solar system. He also established the theory of supersonic turbulence. He is currently Reader in astrophysics at the
Monash University Centre for Stellar and Planetary Astrophysics. [ [http://www.cspa.monash.edu.au/staff_andrew.html CSPA Staff: Andrew Prentice ] ]Predictions
Prentice has made a long list of controversial predictions about the nature of our solar system. To the surprise of many of his colleagues,
NASA missions have confirmed that many of his hypotheses were remarkably accurate. Some of his most well known predictions are: [ [http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/monmag/issue13-2004/research/stars.html Journey to the origin of the Solar System (Monash Magazine article) ] ]* In 1977, Prentice hypothesised that a rocky moon belt existed at four planetary radii from
Jupiter 's centre. Two years later, such a rocky ring was discovered, though closer to Jupiter than Prentice had predicted.
* He predicted thatUranus had two more moons or moonlet streams than commonly thought. Nine years later, a new moon (Puck), was discovered to be orbiting Uranus, in addition to a family of nine moonlets
* In 1981, Prentice theorised that the mass ofSaturn 's moonTethys was in fact 20-25% larger than the generally predicted level. Three months later, it was confirmed to be 21% larger than previously thought.
* In 1989, he predicted thatNeptune had four additional dark moons, at 5, 3.5, 2.5 and 1.8 radii in Neptune's equatorial plane. By the end of the year, four dark moons were discovered in Neptune's equatorial plane at 7, 3, 2.5 and 2.1 radii.
* He predicted that dry ice would be the main carbon-bearing chemical onTriton . Three years later, infrared devices confirmed this.References
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