Slashdot Mirror
Saturn's A-ring Soaks Up Debris Ejected from Nearby Moon
ScienceDaily is running a story about the recently discovered interaction between Saturn's A-ring and one of Saturn's small moons, Enceladus. Thanks to data from Cassini, scientists have discovered that ejected matter from Enceladus' ice geysers is absorbed into the A-ring, where it is then trapped. We discussed the geysers themselves a few years ago, and researchers have been working since then to determine where the material was going. Quoting:
"This is the latest surprising phenomenon associated with the ice geysers of Enceladus to be discovered or confirmed by Cassini scientists. Earlier, the geysers were found to be responsible for the content of the E-ring. Next, the whole magnetic environment of Saturn was found to be weighed down by the material spewing from Enceladus, which becomes plasma -- a gas of electrically charged particles. Now, Cassini scientists confirm that the plasma, which creates a donut-shaped cloud around Saturn, is being snatched by Saturn's A-ring, which acts like a giant sponge where the plasma is absorbed."
With all that plasma, the A-ring looks like great habitat for superconducting electrovores.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Enceladus is ejecting matter from its geyser into Saturn's A-ring?
This sounds like pr0n to me.
I often have the same problem with Enchiladas and my A-ring.
I know one of the theories for moon formation is debris in orbit of a planet slowly forming into larger bodies until eventually there's a new moon. Could this be a case where one moon is "leaking", and the eventual result will be a new moon formed out of Saturn's rings?
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
"the whole magnetic environment of Saturn was found to be weighed down by the material spewing from Enceladus, which becomes plasma -- a gas of electrically charged particles. Now, Cassini scientists confirm that the plasma, which creates a donut-shaped cloud around Saturn, is being snatched by Saturn's A-ring"
Yeah, that used to happen to me back when I listened to cassettes, too. A decent degausser will fix it.
That's no moon!
mmmmmm, enchiladas
Most suggestive headline I've read all day.
I'm not sure that this is really news. I can vaguely recall people talking about exactly this sort of thing happening in papers from years ago. I'm not 100% certain that the topic was E ring particles, but I rather thing that it is. Sure, before we found the plume on Enceladus, that moon's connection wasn't apparent, but the issue of contamination of the A ring has come up before. I even remember discussion as to how far into the A ring you'd have to go before the contamination stopped. (Which probably played back into older photometric and spectroscopic measurements of the outer A ring, which has a a rather distinct character.)
It's a bit difficult to tell from the article what the point of the new research is, but I will say that even confirming this with new, perhaps more telling, measurements is still useful result, even if I'm remembering correctly and this isn't a new idea.
Betcha they got no CO2 up there.
What?
between the hydrocarbons, the ice to produce hydrogen and now the plasma its really starting to sound like the place to open a cosmic truck stop is Saturn, its got like tonnes of energy sources waiting to be used.
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
What about the O-ring?
Images from the Hubble Space Telescope can be seen here.
Anybody want my mod points?
Om nom nom nom!
"Anonymous could not immediately be reached for further comment." - International Business Times
The Saturnians' plan to inject Coke and Mentos into Enceladus was a brilliant move to produce rings and revive their once-sagging tourism trade.
Seriously, I wonder how such a relatively small moon like Enceladus can have such strong tidal heating. It just seems too puny for that kind of thing.
Table-ized A.I.
I, for one, welcome our new debris absorbing overlords.
Do they really look like geysers to anybody? Wouldn't they be more columnar, or conical?
... 2 years ago, same story - with a cometary conclusion:
If anything it looks like the solar corona, or a comet perhaps?
ahh, here we go
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?file=article&name=News&op=modload&sid=1797
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
I think the lack of care or knowledge about this particular subject is leading to a lot of bad jokes and off topic comments. Muck like this one, hence the AC.
The Fithp are coming...
There's a good joke about goatse in there but I'll spare you the imagery.
Isn't the A-ring what surrounds the A-hole?
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
near the end of January.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Nearly every post above this has been modded down? Clearly someone doesn't appreciate the fine art of potty humor.