Originally posted by mikesingh
How come all three objects have different axes? Meaning that they're all moving in different directions? After all, an objects orbiting around a
planet would be moving along in the same direction as other objects, UNLESS UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL, due to the gravitational pull of the planet?
I'll answer this. As crazy as it sounds, not all objects orbiting around Saturn, or Jupiter, or the remaining two gas giants orbit on the same plane.
Some of these objects were actually "captured" later after the planet's formation by the huge gravitational fields of the gas giants. Therefore
their orbits would be quite different than the other bodies that formed in the planetary accretion disc.
Here's a link to a table of every natural object orbiting Saturn. It includes diameter, orbital period and inclination in degrees to Saturn's
equator. Negative orbital periods would mean they're going around the planet the opposite way.
Wiki: Saturn's natural satellites: Table of known moons
If you look at that list, there's quite a significant number of moons that are not on the equatorial plane. And there are also a large number that
are going the opposite direction. Finally there's a huge number that are less than 8 km in diameter. It's possible that Saturn has a fleet of
natural object that are basically boulders the size of cars orbiting about her. Little meteor fragments that are caught in the gravity well. They're
just too small to have been verified.
Couldn't one of those be the vague blur?
Some dessert for thought
Edit: Another link for the
Saturnian Satellites
[edit on 9-9-2007 by Beachcoma]