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Remains of Shattered Moon Found in Saturn's Rings

Posted by samzenpus on from the deathstar-wanted-for-questioning dept.

Riding with Robots writes "Scientists have announced that they have used images from the robotic spacecraft Cassini to find moonlets embedded in Saturn's outer rings that are likely the remains of a larger moon that was shattered by an asteroid or comet. The team from the University of Colorado at Boulder that made the discovery has now posted details and pictures."

10 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. That's no moon... by albeit+unknown · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a space station!

    1. Re:That's no moon... by RuBLed · · Score: 4, Funny

      *Force Choke*

    2. Re:That's no moon... by gerf · · Score: 4, Funny

      I blame this moon catastrophe on Global Warming.

      After all, before global warming, no one had ever in history seen a moon being decimated like this. I estimate that by 2050 half of the moons will be destroyed by meteors and death stars. The moons of some planets and pseudo planets may be spared, but most will be devastated. Their rubble will fall upon our metropolitan areas and million dollar summer homes, leaving us homeless and starving for food.

      We have all seen the horrific California wildfires this week. We've also seen the huge fireballs created by Schoemaker-Levy, which was near to this moon explosion. Obviously, something is going extremely wrong here!

      I propose that we blow these moons before they get blown themselves. We can then control how and where the remnants fall. To do this, we need an old song that's still catchy, a bunch of nukes and some hillbillies with mental and drug disorders.

      This program may very well hinder our economy. Because of this, any country that endeavors to be more advanced than any other country will be taxed into oblivion. We must have equality when taxing every single person for this project, after all. With enough hard work, we shall prevail over this imminent danger!

  2. Expected, but cool nevertheless by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    The presence of planetary rings indicates a relatively recent astronomical event like this. Since Saturn has these pronounced rings, it cannot have been too long ago (in cosmic terms) that something like a moon or large planetoid was disintegrated in its vicinity. Eventually, the gravity of Saturn will suck the rings in and the cool ringed planet will become the ex-ringed planet.

    Neptune is another planet with rings which are far fainter, so it is likely that Neptune's lunar disintegration event happened to a much smaller object somewhat longer ago.

    Uranus, if it ever had rings, has swept clean its area. While not as pretty as a ringed planet, Uranus may pose less of a danger to probes since less damaging material encircles the planet.

    1. Re:Expected, but cool nevertheless by Chibi+Merrow · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uranus, if it ever had rings, has swept clean its area.


      Uranus has rings right now...

      No, that's not a joke, I'm serious, it does.
      --
      Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
      Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
  3. Re:So, what do the rings look like from inside? by sighted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At least in some places, the ring particles are quite close together. Check out this illustration. The particles vary in size from dust grains to boulders as big as buildings. The wildest thing is that the rings are about 280,000 km wide, but less than one thick.

    --
    Saddle up: Riding with Robots
  4. Re:So, what do the rings look like from inside? by sighted · · Score: 4, Informative

    These Cassini images are interesting, too, and I think relate to the main story.

    --
    Saddle up: Riding with Robots
  5. Myth Busters by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can the Myth Busters test this by smashing an asteroid in orbit around Earth? I wanna ring too.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. Old News by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    From TFA: "A narrow belt harboring moonlets as large as football stadiums discovered in Saturn's outermost ring probably resulted when a larger moon was shattered by a wayward asteroid or comet eons ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder study."

    Typical slashdot; recycled news from millions of years ago This story is probably a dupe from then.

  7. Re:So, what do the rings look like from inside? by ozphx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its not that amazing. I'd hate to be the poor chump of a rock whose offset orbit intersects with eleventy billion tonnes of rocks orbiting at another angle ;)

    Put another way, if you are a couple of k's below the rings on one side, you'll be a couple of k's above on the other. Between those two points are all the other rocks that have been persuaded (pummeled) into not bucking the system. Also they are very big. And angry. And very willing to give you a bit of the newtons laws up the wazoo to persuade you to move with the herd again.

    You might also be eaten by a grue.

    --
    3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.