NASA Discovers New Ring Around Saturn

[Earnest Cavalli]

NASA Discovers New Ring Around Saturn

No doubt justifying all space-based budgetary expenditures for the next century, NASA scientists have discovered a new ring around Saturn.

The really bizarre bit is that though humanity has known of the ring-infested planet since prehistory (and its rings since at least the 17th century), this new ring is described by NASA as "by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings."

You'd really think something like that would be hard to miss.

Official deets from the red-faced space association [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20091006.html]:

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 (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). 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.

So what does this mean for humanity? Not much really, but you better believe certain other planets are jealous. Saturn gets all the shiny, fancy rings and Uranus just gets s#!* on!

(Yes, I've been waiting to type that all day.)

(Via Neatorama [http://www.neatorama.com/2009/10/07/new-saturn-ring-discovered/])

(Image [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20091006.html])

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[VanityGirl]

That's cool. Isn't there also a moon around Saturn that has a lot of water on it or something like that? I love space news!

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

See, me and SargentToughie were right, we warned you all, we told you that if we didn't act soon Saturn would get even more dangerous.

Now look, it's expanding, soon it will envelop the galaxy. /Toughie Clan

In all seriousness, this is interesting if Saturn can have giant almost invisible rings maybe other planets can. Imagine if we one day discovered that Earth had rings?

 

[Repulsionary]

Interesting. It's sorta odd to have a ring that deviates from the main ring section, but it's a sort of nice change. When I saw the topic title, I was expecting something like, 'oh, they're just sorting out the existing ring sections into even smaller sections in order to account for the new moon, Bladderpus' or something like that. I'm glad that it's something NEW.

That's cool. Isn't there also a moon around Saturn that has a lot of water on it or something like that? I love space news!

Yes, they're saying that Enceladus has water. They saw geysers near the south pole of the moon. That makes it one of the top candidates for life, along with Jupiter's moon Europa, and one of Saturn's other moons, Titan.

In all seriousness, this is interesting if Saturn can have giant almost invisible rings maybe other planets can. Imagine if we one day discovered that Earth had rings?

Of course Earth will have rings. Ours will just be made from space junk and scrap metal.

 

[LTK_70]

You'd really think something like that would be hard to miss.

Well, duh, it's only visible in the infrared spectrum. No one bothered to point a camera that can detect it in the direction of Saturn until now, most of them are pointed at the sun or other stars.

In all seriousness, this is interesting if Saturn can have giant almost invisible rings maybe other planets can. Imagine if we one day discovered that Earth had rings?

If we one day discover that Earth has rings, it'll be the rings of all the space trash that fly around in orbit.

 

[Ranooth]

Saturn gets all the shiny, fancy rings and Uranus just gets s#!* on!

Uranus gets no lovin' at all.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Wow, a new ring wooooooo...how exciting.

 

[Steve Dark]

Hmm... I guess if there were a competition between all the planets then Saturn would... run rings around the opposition. ^_^

 

[ae86gamer]

Awesome! That is.. awesome.. Uh.. yeah..

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i had read about this yesterday, it's pretty cool, it's planets like that that allow us to live and keep the big bad asteroids away from us

 

[hansari]

this new ring is described by NASA as "by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings."

You'd really think something like that would be hard to miss.

So how does this justify giving them a bigger budget?

I honestly can't see how they would play this...I mean not only does this discovery not really yield anything (like you care about one more ring), but it kinda says these guys are a bit incompetent to only notice this now!

 

[Sephiwind]

Well it makes sence that the larger ring would be "invisible". Generally once you get to a certain degree in size it actualy becomes harder to see because the mind of the viewer will interperit it as something completely differant. Only when you change your perspective by means of pulling back in distance, change angle, etc..

As an example with crop circles from the ground, in the the field you will just see some paths but when you pull back to a sky view you see the pattern made in the corn field.

 

[oneplus999]

And this relates to gaming how?

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Aha! My favorite Planet just got better!

I showed my Grandmother this article and she was amazed.

 

[Kuliani]

And this relates to gaming how?

Doesn't have to, if it's cool, it's newsworthy. And this is definitely cool.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Thats pretty neat and interesting.

 

[AceDiamond]

Well it makes sence that the larger ring would be "invisible". Generally once you get to a certain degree in size it actualy becomes harder to see because the mind of the viewer will interperit it as something completely differant. Only when you change your perspective by means of pulling back in distance, change angle, etc..

As an example with crop circles from the ground, in the the field you will just see some paths but when you pull back to a sky view you see the pattern made in the corn field.

Another example is the Earth being round. When you're standing on Earth it seems like a flat plane, and yet when you get into space it's a sphere. Of course it was already pretty much proven the world was round centuries we got into space, but still.

As to what this means, well it might for one explain why one of Saturn's moons orbits in the opposite direction from all the others, and thus solving another astronomical mystery. If nothing else it's at least helping us understand the universe.

 

[Eldarion]

A new ring?

They are counting them?

That is what they are blowing money on now?

Cut their funding already.