Posted by Davin Flateau on 11 May 2005 at 4:31 pm.
Filed under Astronomy.
The Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, made a spectacular discovery this week in revealing a new moon orbiting inside the rings of the gas giant. The 4 mile-wide satellite was hiding in a small division in the rings known as the Keeler gap. The moon’s gravity creates small waves in the nearby ring material, piling up small “ring dunes”. S/2005 S1, as its currently called, is only the second moon to be found within Saturn’s rings. The other, Pan, is located in the Encke gap, and was discovered in 1990 from old Voyager images.
This discovery is a great example of science in action, since the moon’s existence was predicted by previous images.
“Imaging scientists had predicted the new moon’s presence and its orbital distance from Saturn after last July’s sighting of a set of peculiar spiky and wispy features in the Keeler gap’s outer edge. The similarities of the Keeler gap features to those noted in Saturn’s F ring and the Encke gap led imaging scientists to conclude that a small body, a few kilometers across, was lurking in the center of the Keeler gap, awaiting discovery. “
Check out the cool movie of the moon whizzing around like a tiny cosmic slotcar.
Davin Flateau
