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Millions of tiny satelllites orbiting Saturn

As many as 10 million tiny satellites, some up to 100 meters in diameter, are orbiting Saturn within its rings, scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission reported on Wednesday.

Careful analysis of these pictures revealed four faint, propeller-shaped double streaks in an otherwise bland part of the mid-A Ring, a bright section in Saturn’s main rings. The researchers believe the "propellers" provide the first direct observation of how moonlets of 100 meters in diameter affect nearby particles.

Previous measurements, including those made by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s, have shown that Saturn’s rings contain mostly small water-ice particles ranging in size from less than 1 centimeter across to the size of a small house.

Scientists knew about two larger embedded ring moons, 30-kilometer-wide Pan and 7-kilometer-wide Daphnis. The latest findings mark the first evidence of objects of about 100 meters in diameter.

These moonlets are likely to be chunks of the ancient body whose break-up produced Saturn’s glorious rings.

posted by: kyawoo at 03:30 | link | comments |
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