The Solar System

craner

Beast of Burden
Cool!

This is a thread for stories about the (that is, our) solar system. There was one today.

A colossal new ring has been identified around Saturn.

The dusty hoop lies some 13 million km (eight million miles) from the planet, about 50 times more distant than the other rings and in a different plane.

Scientists tell the journal Nature that the tenuous ring is probably made up of debris kicked off Saturn's moon Phoebe by small impacts.

They think this dust then migrates towards the planet where it is picked up by another Saturnian moon, Iapetus.
 

CHAOTROPIC

on account
I like the way the new ring has been pebbledashing Iapetus :cool:

iapetus2_cassini.jpg
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
That Beeb News article would be loads better with every instance of the word "Saturn" replaced with "your mum".

Speaking of Saturn, someone posted a cool link here a while back about the hexagonal cyclone on the planet's north pole. Seen here in flattering 5mm far infra-red:

cassiniimage.gif
 
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