Colossal Structures Discovered Towering Above Saturn's Rings

I'm not sure what to make of this. One can only think back to the moon towers. Opinions?

This one is a 10 on the Galaxy wow meter: In images made possible only as Saturn nears equinox, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has uncovered for the first time towering vertical structures in the planet's otherwise flat rings that are attributable to the gravitational effects of a small nearby moon.

www.dailygalaxy.com...

[edit on 17-6-2009 by -NewSense-]

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[edit on 17/6/2009 by Mirthful Me]

Could it be a spacerock passing through the gaseous rings causing a trail?

I'm sure it very well could be. Although there are many alternatives. I'm hangin on the fence for a bit on this one. I want to see better pictures of this thing.

The images is way too small.
More likely that it is one of its spokes.

Not the first time Images like that have shown up.

I have seen pictures of long cylinders (almost rocky looking), and now I just have to search through 5,000+ posts to find the pictures,

Originally posted by spikedmilk
Could it be a spacerock passing through the gaseous rings causing a trail?

The sheer force of saturns gravity would lead me to believe that such a trajectory of an object that close of range would not be able to intersect the way it appears in the picture, but it might just be an optical illusion as well.

Also, People have seen this "tube" for a very long time. Someone scanned a Popular Mechanics from back in the day going into detail with better pictures and stuff, pretty cool.

In an analysis published online in the Astronomical Journal, imaging scientists use the long shadows cast by newly revealed 3-dimensional waves on the edges of the Keeler gap in Saturn's outer A ring to illustrate how the small moon Daphnis, embedded in the gap, can create such soaring vertical structures.

Source

[edit on 17-6-2009 by drsmooth23]

Looks to me like it is not vertical, but rather is a shadow passing across the rings from the moon in the rings. A similar shadow is caused by the spiraling rings that rise above the surface plane of the rings and blocks enough light to create the wavy shadow to the left of the moon shadow.

Nice try, interesting photo, but routine.

Large pics are here:

Link

Amazing!

I've read that the Council of Nine reside in Saturn's rings, although not in our dimension....

Lot's of real interesting stuff has been turning up lately.

I've seen that picture before, I'll give a link if I can find it. Anyway, it's a moon causing interference in the rings, that's a seperation in the ring and the ripples are caused by its... gravitation or something, I'll try and find that link hahah. It was a recent mission, and they were actually predicting to find it, they had done the calculations on what they expected a moon to do if it was in the rings, and voila.

Found the link, it explains it better than I:
blogs.discovermagazine.com...

[edit on 17-6-2009 by SkepticPerhaps]

The link says that the vertical tower is a natural event caused by gravitational pull from one of Saturns moons.

Just looked at this site too...

"Vertical structures created by Saturn's small moon Daphnis cast long shadows across the rings in this dramatic image taken as the planet approaches its mid-August 2009 equinox."

Thanks organizedchaos.

Its the stylus on a super massive galactic LP!!
Has cassini got microphones??
Turn them on if it has!!

Seriously though,thats a great photograph.
What a great anomaly.

[edit on 17-6-2009 by Silcone Synapse]

Its whats called a shepherding satellite. Shepherd satellites(or moons) are tiny moons that orbit a planet.usualy betwen 20 miles and 100 miles in diameter. Those are what help keep sturns rings in place, and cause the gaps in the rings, as they orbit around the planet, inside the ring system. IN that phot, the towering shadow boject, appears to be nothing more, than the shepherding satellites shadown,,,judging from the angle the photo was taken, and the angle the light is hitting it. The curves you see it making behind it, is material in the ring system being disrupted, as the satellite passes through it all.

its impossible for it to be a tower lol. In this case, the tower msut be 10,000 miles high!!! thats impossible.....
as for a spoke..ive watched the Voyager encoutners ring system animations of saturn..when the spokes were discovered, back in 1980/81.. they were attributed to being dust particles the size of ciggarette smoke orbiting miles above the ring plane, casting an eerie shadow down on the ring plane..hence forth ring spokes!
I dont thik its a ring spoke, caue the shadow is directly connected and coming from the moon...i thinks its its shadow.

I cant remember where but I've seen these in video. Those are some awesome tidal waves caused by the moons. Nothing unnatural about them.

Hi, Saturn's fans.

This is one of many shadows I see everyday, since
one month or two.
See the reality's angles here:

CASSINI_SATURN:
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov...

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
For space ships fans, see that too:
Mars Explor Rover Mission:
marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

Blue skies.

reply to post by C-JEAN


Wow,I just loved this shot:

marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

Imagine-you are a tiny martian insect,and this giant beast comes rolling toward you.

"The Earthlings are comING!!! They Are sending giant ROBOTS!!! Run for your lives!!!"

I have saved that pic,its awesome.