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NASA Discovers Giant Ring Around Saturn

Posted by Soulskill on from the headlines-that-aren't-as-stupid-as-they-sound dept.

caffiend666 writes with news that scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered a very large, previously unknown ring around the planet Saturn. According to NASA, if the ring were visible to the naked eye from Earth, it would cover a patch of sky roughly twice the angular diameter of the Moon. "The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers. One of Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material. Saturn's newest halo is thick, too — its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring. ... The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer's infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band's cool dust. The telescope, launched in 2003, is currently 107 million kilometers from Earth in orbit around the sun."

7 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing... by BeneathTheVeil · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...it wasn't a giant ring around Uranus.

    Yeah, yeah, just thought I'd get that out of the way early.

    1. Re:Good thing... by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Until 2620, when astronomers change its name to Urectum, we're still stuck with that stupid joke.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Cool Dust by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool Dust? Wow, I could have used some of that in high school. This is undoubtedly part of some astronomy group's secret project to get back at the jocks.

  3. Re:Esoteric Naming System by Qzukk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wonder what they will name this one, anyone good with sequence puzzles?

    D#

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  4. Is it bad science day already? by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Although the ring dust is very cold -- minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit -- it shines with thermal radiation.

    That's -193'C or 80 K if you're an actual scientist.

    The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles.

    ...has an inner radius of 5.9 million kilometers and extends to 17 million km.

    >The newly found ring is so huge it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it

    That's "so huge it would take 1.03×10^29 Volkswagens to fill it"

    JPL said

    JPL is a collection of buildings in California and does not speak. Perhaps the Oracle of JPL made this prophecy?

    "This is one supersized ring," said one of the authors, Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

    Unless the McDonalds in Charlottesville have changed recently, 10^29 Volkswagens would be a 'Large'. If you want supersized rings it's going to be an extra 49 cents.

  5. Re:Wait... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone alert the media!

    I think they did!

  6. Re:Whats funny is my initial reaction to the headl by imakemusic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is anyone looking for these invisible rings in other places?

    Yes. Fools that they are.

    --
    Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!