Scientists Discover Massive Ring Around Saturn
Scientists at NASA have discovered a nearly invisible ring around Saturn — one so large that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it.
The ring’s orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet’s main ring plane. The bulk of it starts about 3.7 million miles (6 million km) away from the planet and extends outward another 7.4 million miles (12 million km).
Its diameter is equivalent to 300 Saturns lined up side to side. And its entire volume can hold one billion Earths, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said late Tuesday.
“This is one supersized ring,” said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Verbiscer and two others are authors of a paper about the discovery published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
The obvious question: Why did it take scientists so long to discover something so massive?
The ring is made up of ice and dust particles that are so far apart that “if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn’t even know it,” Verbiscer said in a statement.
Also, Saturn doesn’t receive a lot of sunlight, and the rings don’t reflect much visible light.
But the cool dust — about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit) — glows with thermal radiation. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, used to spot the ring, picked up on the heat…
Related Posts - Legion's housing application turned down Chris Fell, Staff - The Meaford Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion has to make some tough decisions about its future after its application for infrastructure funding to construct a...
- Germans and Polish rejecting swine flu jab The number of people in Germany who do not intend to take the swine flu jab under any circumstances has increased from 39% in the middle of October to 43%...
- World Watches Odyssey of 'Balloon Boy' in real time The whole world watched Thursday as a lighter-than-air craft set loose by a 6-year-old boy floated above eastern Colorado. Web sites as diverse as Al-Jazeera and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald...
- U.N. to Inspect Iran Nuclear Plant This Month United Nations inspectors will visit Iran's recently disclosed nuclear power plant on October 25, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency announced Sunday from Tehran, Iran. "It is important...
- Nortel Posts Big Loss Nortel Networks Corp. announced Monday that it will slash 1,300 more jobs, including key management positions, and freeze salaries after posting a $3.4-billion third-quarter loss. The telecommunications equipment manufacturer said...
- Obama Promotes Nuclear-Free World Barack Obama has outlined his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons in a major speech in Europe. The US president called for a global summit on nuclear security...
Related Websites - Verizon Wireless Said to Start Offering IPhone in January [/caption] Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone next year, ending AT&T Inc.’s exclusive hold on the smartphone in the U.S., two people familiar with the plans said. The device will be available to customers in January, according to the people, who declined to......
- Martin Lawrence Marries Longtime Girlfriend Shamicka Gibbs Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy among guests at wedding of funnyman and Gibbs.By Mawuse Ziegbe Shamicka Gibbs and Martin Lawrence (file) Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage Comedian and actor Martin Lawrence tied the knot over the weekend. The funnyman married his longtime girlfriend, Shamicka Gibbs, on Saturday at his Beverly Hills home. People......
- Avatar' passes $1 billion [/caption] "Avatar" grosses $1.02 billion at worldwide box office * Already fourth-biggest movie of all time * Poised to beat "Dark Knight" in North America (updates with worldwide sales, more films in North America) LOS ANGELES, Jan 3 "Avatar" sped past the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office......
- Microsoft Predicts Fast Adoption of Office 2010 [/caption] By Dina Bass Microsoft Corp. expects customers to adopt the new version of Office at the fastest pace in the software’s 20-year history, helping reverse a sales slump and fend off competition from Google Inc.’s Web-based programs. The software has been tested by 7.5 million users, three times as......
- Celebrating the Birth that Started it All It's time to celebrate! Eight years ago this week, my first daughter came wailing into the world. In the weeks leading to her birth, I was repeatedly told that her arrival would "change everything." Sometimes I nodded my head sagely as though I understood. Other times I blinked, uable to comprehend just what that might......
- Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) Announces New Savings Account Interest Rates Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) is now helping people with savings whether for college or other goals with increased savings account interest rates. They are currently among the highest rates nationwide. According to national research conducted by Sallie Mae and Gallup, 59% of parents are saving for college through a combination......
Short URL: http://www.internationalnetworknews.com/?p=3427
Posted by admin
on Oct 7 2009. Filed under International.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
