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Cassini Confirms New Moon of Saturn
pipcorona writes ""In a spectacular kick-off to its first season of prime ring viewing, which began last month, the Cassini spacecraft has confirmed earlier suspicions of an unseen moon hidden in a gap in Saturn's outer A ring. A new image and movie show the new moon and the waves it raises in the surrounding ring material."
From TFA:
Well, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
Looks like it's up to us...please post your suggestions for the new moon's name below.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I mean, really? Every time they find a new one, the things just keep getting smaller. What's next, a piece of ejecta from another moon the size and shape of a '74 Chevy Impala? Might as well start naming the debris in the rings.
"Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is living in a state of sin." -- John von Neumann
7km across? Compared to Saturn thats tiny. Thats like saying the ISS is a moon.
So how do you draw a distinction between a moon, a natural satellite, asteroids and space junk? You can either say the moon Earth has an asteroid orbiting it... or that Earth has many moons orbiting it, only one of which is large enough to see.
So if I pay the Russian space program to launch my 1kg rock in lower orbit, do I get to name my moon, or will they just name it
S/2005 SR26GC3.14159265357?
Which makes me wonder, have we named or numbered our own moon yet? Can I call shotgun and call it 'fp!'?
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
I'm no astronomer, but I remember hearing in Astronomy class about the Roche Limit, the absolute minimum distance that an orbiting body can be from a planet before it'd be disintegrated by the gravity. I also remember hearing that Saturn's rings could have been developed as a result of objects falling within the Roche Limit and disintegrating, thus adding to the ring. This object seems much larger than most of the ones in the ring structure, though. I find that really odd. But then again, IANAA. :P
"Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steve Wright
Map and Images of Titan from Hubble Space Telescope
Nasa Titan Photojournal
Saturnian Satellite Fact Sheet
Phoebe best image so far, from Voyager2 in 1981!
To confirm you're not a script, please piss in my ear.
At least this money is going to find new and useful things. Unlike my state (Kansas) which seems to think that the board of education needs to make us all a laughingstock and put their damn religion in our schools in every science textbook. Why not just require a class, like "Majority religion/philosophy-science indocrination". Look, I learned a LOT from reading Isaac Asimov essays, is there a reason I had to go the the library and check out books of essays from a science fiction author to learn about science? Ya! My state board of education is really badass, getting the job done, and is really cool!
the waves caused are asymetric, as if the moon is moving faster than the immediately surrounding debris. But thats impossible, because it would move the moon to a higher orbit, or the debris to a lower one, right? Can anyone explain this seemingly wierd phenomenon? Also notice the waves caused on the inner darker ring, what is the cause of that?
The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.
I'm repeating myself here (see my post below)...
This satellite is actually interesting since it may hold a key on how to retain a gap in the A-ring. It has to do with this small body of a satellite perturbing the neighboring, smaller dusts and removing them from the region effectively.
Somelike that can be studied numerically (n-body problems) to prove the ring's composition, etc. A nice test case for n-body problem.
[I really should be moderating today but...oh well.]
"It's not a movie! Geez! It's an animated GIF image! (Score:2, Informative)"
*Sigh*
Remember when these debates were fun? Now I worry a chick will see me.
"Derp de derp."
Oh please god no! /. look like a gay christmas tree. All of your suggestions are horrible. /. UID.
What are you on? That would make
1. If you need images, post a link. If you don't have your own webserver or atleast host space to put images on, please hand back your
2. Emoticons are plaque of messageboards. I want to strangle someone each time I use MSN after fresh install and haven't turned them off. What ever happened to the good old smileys?
3. Ok, you just have to be trolling...
Bot Assisted Blogging
... unsually large particle in Saturn's ring system??
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
umm... can anyone explain why they dont send color cameras into space? every picture seems to be either black and white or post-processed into some wierd infra-something false color. give us real color! the truth is out there!
Hey they even called the planet after the Sega Saturn, why not called this new moon Dreamcast.
Planet Death?
The Killing Ball?
Death Moon?
Giant Hurt Ball?
The Deathdicle?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
How about making you really THINK about the implausable idea that the earth is flat or the unlikely explanation that its round.
You nailed it. The ring material inside the S/2005 S1's position is moving faster than the moon, so the waves that the moon excites appear ahead of the moon's present position. (That material just had a close encounter.) The other edge of the gap is orbiting more slowly, so the moon PASSES it, so the waves appear behind the moon.
I'd avoid the word "turning" because it suggests a solid object. The rings are anything but solid.
There are other ways to make asymmetries in these wakes. If the moon isn't well-centered in the gap (although it isn't clear why it wouldn't be) or has a significant orbital eccentricity, you'll get asymmetry as well.
*Sigh* Remember when these debates were fun? Now I worry a chick will see me.
This is Slashdot. No danger of that.