Saturn May Have Given Birth To a Baby Moon

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.'"

Comments

Can I be the first to say.....?

[Anonymous Coward]

THAT'S NO MOON!

Awwww

[imikem]

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

You mean *DWARF* moon

[TrollstonButterbeans]

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!!)