Cassini images help explain moon formation
Posted: Mon, Dec 10, 2007, 8:41 AM ET (1341 GMT)
Several years' worth of images collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft have allowed scientists to measure the unusual shapes of some of Saturn's small moons and thus understand their origins. In papers published in the latest issue of the journal Science, researchers analyzing the Cassini images of Saturn's moons believe that these moons started out with a massive core, in the form of debris from another moon that broke apart. Ring particles agglomerated around those cores, allowing the moons to grow. Without those cores, according to scientists, ring material would not clump together on its own to create the moons. Giant equatorial ridges on some of the small moons, giving them the appearance of flying saucers, might be explained by "fossilized" accretion disks created after Saturn's rings narrowed to their current thinness.
Several years' worth of images collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft have allowed scientists to measure the unusual shapes of some of Saturn's small moons and thus understand their origins. In papers published in the latest issue of the journal Science, researchers analyzing the Cassini images of Saturn's moons believe that these moons started out with a massive core, in the form of debris from another moon that broke apart. Ring particles agglomerated around those cores, allowing the moons to grow. Without those cores, according to scientists, ring material would not clump together on its own to create the moons. Giant equatorial ridges on some of the small moons, giving them the appearance of flying saucers, might be explained by "fossilized" accretion disks created after Saturn's rings narrowed to their current thinness.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, October 29
Firefly’s SciTec Achieves Operational Milestone for U.S. Space Force FORGE System
Firefly Aerospace — 4:20 am ET (0820 GMT) The US space industry will suffer for Ukraine’s Starlink outage, experts say
Defense One — 4:19 am ET (0819 GMT) Astroscale Awarded £15 million MOD Contract as UK Government Strengthens Focus on Resilience in Space
Astroscale — 4:17 am ET (0817 GMT) Pentagon Watchdog Declines to Probe Ukraine Intel, Starlink Cuts
Bloomberg News — 4:17 am ET (0817 GMT) On-orbit services firm secures £15m MOD contract for new space defence programme
Insider Media — 4:15 am ET (0815 GMT) |
