Possible New Moon Forming Around Saturn   
       
   April 14, 2014: NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a   
   small icy object within the rings of Saturn. Informally named "Peggy," the   
   object may be a new moon. Details of the observations were published online   
   today by the journal Icarus.   
       
   "We have not seen anything like this before," said Carl Murray of Queen Mary   
   University of London, and the report's lead author. "We may be looking at the   
   act of birth, where this object is just leaving the rings and heading off to   
   be a moon in its own right."   
       
   http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18078   
       
   This disturbance visible at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring in this image   
   from NASA's Cassini spacecraft could be caused by an object replaying the   
   birth process of icy moons.  More   
       
   Images taken with Cassini's narrow angle camera on April 15, 2013 show   
   disturbances at the very edge of Saturn's A ring -- the outermost of the   
   planet's large, bright rings. One of these disturbances is an arc about 20   
   percent brighter than its surroundings, 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) long and   
   6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. Scientists also found unusual protuberances in   
   the usually smooth profile at the ring's edge. Scientists believe the arc and   
   protuberances are caused by the gravitational effects of a nearby object.   
       
   The object is not expected to grow any larger, and may even be falling apart.   
   But the process of its formation and outward movement aids in our   
   understanding of how Saturn's icy moons, including the cloud-wrapped Titan and   
   ocean-holding Enceladus, may have formed in more massive rings long ago. It   
   also provides insight into how Earth and other planets in our solar system may   
   have formed and migrated away from our star, the sun.   
       
   "Witnessing the possible birth of a tiny moon is an exciting, unexpected   
   event," said Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker, of NASA's Jet Propulsion   
   Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. According to Spilker, Cassini's orbit   
   will move closer to the outer edge of the A ring in late 2016 and provide an   
   opportunity to study Peggy in more detail and perhaps even image it.   
       
   Peggy is too small to see in images so far. Scientists estimate it is probably   
   no more than about a half mile in diameter. Saturn's icy moons range in size   
   depending on their proximity to the planet -- the farther from the planet, the   
   larger. And many of Saturn's moons are comprised primarily of ice, as are the   
   particles that form Saturn's rings. Based on these facts, and other   
   indicators, researchers recently proposed that the icy moons formed from ring   
   particles and then moved outward, away from the planet, merging with other   
   moons on the way.   
       
   "The theory holds that Saturn long ago had a much more massive ring system   
   capable of giving birth to larger moons," Murray said. "As the moons formed   
   near the edge, they depleted the rings."   
       
   It is possible the process of moon formation in Saturn's rings has ended with   
   Peggy, as Saturn's rings now are, in all likelihood, too depleted to make more   
   moons. Because they may not observe this process again, Murray and his   
   colleagues are wringing from the observations all they can learn.   
       
   Credits:   
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More information:   
       
   The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European   
   Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California   
   Institute of Technology, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission   
   Directorate in Washington.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)