» Home > In the News

Saturn’s Rings

8 February 2017
Astronomy

At www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/31/saturns-rings-contain-millions-m… … Saturn's rings contain millions of moonlets – or should that say pieces of debris. Yes, the news flash does say millions of moonlets – who are we to argue. It seems the rings themselves are made up of ice, dust, and rocks (from tiny specks to the size of a house). Gaps in the material are known to astronomers as 'propellers' and these are created, it is thought, by moonlets. They are the bigger debris, from the size of double decker bus to a kilometre across. There are so many the news blurb describes them as 'millions' – but what caused this accumulation to occur? (Gary sent in the link).

However, to get a NASA video of the images go to www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2017/01/31/nasa-releases-breathtaking-up-cl… … for the NASA video.

 

Skip to content