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
|
|
FAA restricts hours for commercial launches during shutdown
Posted: Sun, Nov 9 9:05 AM ET (1405 GMT) China postpones Shenzhou-20 return on orbital debris concerns
Posted: Sun, Nov 9 8:58 AM ET (1358 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, November 19
SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit
UPI — 12:18 am ET (0518 GMT) Clock starts ticking: President Trump served with summons in battle over Space Command HQ
WZDX-TV Huntsville, AL — 12:15 am ET (0515 GMT) Saltzman’s ‘Vector’ Charts Space Force’s Progress and Next Steps
Air and Space Forces Magazine — 12:14 am ET (0514 GMT) Starbase clears the way for SpaceX to collect $7.5 million tax refund
KVEO-TV Rio Grande Valley, TX — 12:12 am ET (0512 GMT) Preparing pads for SpaceX’s future Starship cadence
NasaSpaceFlight.com — 12:11 am ET (0511 GMT) |
