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Saturn May Have Given Birth To a Baby Moon

Posted by Unknown on from the probably-an-alien-spacecraft dept.

astroengine (1577233) writes "NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft has imaged something peculiar on the outermost edge of the gas giant's A-ring. A bright knot, or arc, has been spotted 20 percent brighter than the surrounding ring material and astronomers are interpreting it as a gravitational disturbance caused by a tiny moon. "We have not seen anything like this before," said Carl Murray of Queen Mary University of London. 'We may be looking at the act of birth, where this object is just leaving the rings and heading off to be a moon in its own right.'"

10 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Can I be the first to say.....? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    THAT'S NO MOON!

    1. Re:Can I be the first to say.....? by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nah, the Saturnians just did yet another launch.. You'd think they would have learned by now that they're really not good at it. Look at all that debris they left in orbit. That's what it's going to look like around the Earth in a few thousand years, if we don't start cleaning up after ourselves.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  2. That's no moon! by mythosaz · · Score: 2

    Saturn already has "confirmed" moons about the length of a drag strip.... :/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

    I wonder if this one will be that exciting.

    1. Re:That's no moon! by king+neckbeard · · Score: 2

      Probably around 15 billion credits.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  3. hold on, here by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    It's just a big zit; relax

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Awwww by imikem · · Score: 4, Funny

    They're so cute, when they're still little.

    --
    Perscriptio in manibus tabellariorum est.
    1. Re:Awwww by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      so cute

      until you have to change the first diaper

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  5. and you'll go blind by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    See, this is what happens when rings are knotty.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. You mean *DWARF* moon by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 4, Funny

    You mean *DWARF* moon. Because in order to be considered a *real* moon, it has to clear its orbit of debris.

    (Standing in solidarity with Pluto!!)

    --
    Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
  7. Re:The Birth of a Moon... by VernonNemitz · · Score: 2

    I thought the entire ring system was inside Roche's Limit, and as a result it should be impossible for a moon to form there.