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New Ring Discovered Around Saturn
HunahpuMonkey writes "BBC News is reporting that 'scientists using the Cassini probe have found a new ring and one, possibly two, new objects orbiting Saturn.' The article also notes that the discoveries are in the planet's contorted F-ring region. The ring of new material seems to be associated with Saturn's moon Atlas."
There's a good article here about what exactly makes up a moon. I can tell you its not about gravity since basically every object with mass has gravity.
argh! EVERYthing with mass has its own gravitational field. fuckingdictionaryit
"satellite" means orbiting a planet.
"moon" means natural satellite.
"Moon" means Earth's moon.
Theorists have posited the existance of small moons (~5 km) inside the F ring for some time. They could explain the odd look and behavior of the F ring, although they are not the only possibility. If these new objects are moons and not temporarly clumps of ring material, it will be interesting to see how the models and data agree (or don't agree).