Author Topic: Saturn has 8 rings...  (Read 5452 times)

makattak

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Saturn has 8 rings...
« on: October 07, 2009, 01:07:00 AM »
Not seven as was previously thought.

And the eighth is MASSIVE.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,561500,00.html


Quote
PASADENA, Calif.  —  The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced late Tuesday.

The thin array of ice and dust particles lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane, the laboratory said.

JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin said the ring is very diffuse and doesn't reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it.

Although the ring dust is very cold — minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit — it shines with thermal radiation.

No one had looked at its location with an infrared instrument until now, Clavin said.

The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles.

The newly found ring is so huge it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it, JPL said.

Before the discovery Saturn was known to have seven main rings named A through E and several faint unnamed rings.

A paper on the discovery was to be published online Wednesday by the journal Nature.

"This is one supersized ring," said one of the authors, Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Her co-authors are Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Michael Skrutskie, also of the University of Virginia.

Saturn's moon Phoebe orbits within the ring and is believed to be the source of the material.

The ring also may answer the riddle of another moon, Iapetus, which has a bright side and a very dark side.

The ring circles in the same direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn's other moons go the opposite way. Scientists think material from the outer ring moves inward and slams into Iapetus.

"Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus," said Hamilton. "This new ring provides convincing evidence of that relationship."

The Spitzer mission, launched in 2003, is managed by JPL in Pasadena. Spitzer is 66 million miles from Earth in orbit around the sun.

Don't have much to say other than, Wow, the things we can do.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

Phyphor

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2009, 02:15:56 AM »
Yea, and the way we can pick out smaller and smaller worlds in other star systems?  Hell yea.  If there is life out there, we'll probably find it.... if it's close enough..... this is just one small step towards that goal.
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Fly320s

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2009, 07:58:56 AM »
Quote
The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles from the planet
And it is in orbit around Saturn?  That's amazing.
Islamic sex dolls.  Do they blow themselves up?

Gewehr98

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2009, 08:45:00 AM »
Insert "Rings around Uranus" jokes here.   =D
"Bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

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Regolith

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2009, 09:22:27 AM »
Insert "Rings around Uranus" jokes here.   =D

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taurusowner

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2009, 10:04:29 AM »
Very appropriate Regolith.  Bravo.

MechAg94

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2009, 10:11:45 AM »
Don't have much to say other than, Wow, the things we can do.
Yeah, and considering that we have barely made it off our own planet, it is pretty cool what we can find just sitting here and looking.
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roo_ster

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2009, 12:19:10 PM »
Yep, and there is so much sky to et a bead on with our sensors, we can expect discoveries like this in perpetuity.  Just have to get better & better sensors to focus on different bits of sky at different times.
Regards,

roo_ster

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taurusowner

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2009, 01:02:31 PM »
Just think what we would find if we actually tried to something other than just sit here on Earth.

Harold Tuttle

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2009, 02:05:44 PM »
robots in space > people in space
"The true mad scientist does not make public appearances! He does not wear the "Hello, my name is.." badge!
He strikes from below like a viper or on high like a penny dropped from the tallest building around!
He only has one purpose--Do bad things to good people! Mit science! What good is science if no one gets hurt?!"

makattak

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2009, 02:14:03 PM »
robots in space > people in space

That really depends on the people....



Ohhhhhhhh are you meaning for purposes of exploration and discovery? Yeah, most likely.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

AJ Dual

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2009, 02:54:36 PM »
People that are robots in space > robots in space > people in space...  =D

Since I've got a bit of a reputation here as a Kurzweilian transhumanist, I couldn't resist.
I promise not to duck.

Harold Tuttle

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2009, 02:56:52 PM »
shipping water & air out of the gravity well is too darn expensive

telepresence is where we should roam while re-pushing at the x-15 envelope
"The true mad scientist does not make public appearances! He does not wear the "Hello, my name is.." badge!
He strikes from below like a viper or on high like a penny dropped from the tallest building around!
He only has one purpose--Do bad things to good people! Mit science! What good is science if no one gets hurt?!"

AJ Dual

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2009, 03:16:30 PM »
Saturn has eight rings?

Well, there are FOUR lights!

I promise not to duck.

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2009, 03:28:20 PM »
Saturn has eight rings?

Well, there are FOUR lights!


Why isn't the good captain wearing pants?

makattak

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #15 on: October 07, 2009, 03:29:26 PM »
Why isn't the good captain wearing pants?

Prisoner of war being tortured...












Hey, at least I can't tell you Episode number, Title and date first aired!
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

erictank

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #16 on: October 07, 2009, 11:13:57 PM »
Prisoner of war being tortured...












Hey, at least I can't tell you Episode number, Title and date first aired!

I'm SO tempted...



But I'd have to look it up myself.  Funny, seeing as how this was one of the episodes Stewart talked about at DragonCon last month as one of his favorites of the TNG run, and he did in fact mention it by name (though he did need a prompt, IIRC).  Excellent episode, though.

robots in space > people in space

I disagree.  AFAIC, robots in space + people in space.

http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/2009/07/space-quotes.html

Plus: "Manned spaceflight versus robotics? Let's see ... on your wedding night, would you be satisfied to send in a remote, and receive telemetered progress reports? " - author L. Neil Smith  =D

For a variety of reasons, including "Because it's THERE!!!", I hope that humanity as a species never agrees with you, Harry.

RaspberrySurprise

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #17 on: October 08, 2009, 02:12:53 AM »
Why isn't the good captain wearing pants?

They were all out of red diapers.
Look, tiny text!

MicroBalrog

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #18 on: October 08, 2009, 03:27:43 AM »
People in space > robots in space. We need colonies, people. The Empire of Mankind needs establishin'.
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Cromlech

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #19 on: October 08, 2009, 05:16:33 AM »
I'm SO tempted...But I'd have to look it up myself. 
That episode was a good 'un, but then I'm a big fanboy of David Warner.
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Viking

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2009, 05:28:45 AM »
People in space > robots in space. We need colonies, people. The Empire of Mankind needs establishin'.
Any chance of running into hostile aliens? If so, we obviously need Space Marines!
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Cromlech

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #21 on: October 08, 2009, 06:15:58 AM »
Any chance of running into hostile aliens? If so, we obviously need Spehss Mahreens!
Fixed that for you.
When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt, run in little circles, wave your arms and shout!

MicroBalrog

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #22 on: October 08, 2009, 12:47:22 PM »
Fixed that for you.

You know GW is working on a movie, yes?
Destroy The Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

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Balog

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #23 on: October 08, 2009, 03:27:18 PM »
You know GW is working on a movie, yes?

Bah, rumours. Sauce plox.
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Cromlech

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Re: Saturn has 8 rings...
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2009, 05:45:25 PM »
When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt, run in little circles, wave your arms and shout!