Giant Waves Solve Saturn Ring Mystery (great video too)

Saturn’s largest ring appears to behave like a mini spiral galaxy. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft caught enormous waves sloshing back and forth across Saturn’s B ring, similar to waves believed to give galaxies their spiral shapes. “This is a major result,” said Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute. “Saturn’s rings are tiny tiny tiny compared to a galaxy, but we see the same physics.”

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The new observations also show two warped regions, including a tall arc of spiky peaks that rise almost two miles above the ring plane. These perturbations may have been sculpted by small moons that migrated across the ring disk, a process believed to be important in shaping planetary systems.

Saturn’s most massive ring, the B ring, has baffled astronomers since the Voyager spacecraft flew by in 1980 and 1981. Those observations showed the B ring was sculpted into a flattened football shape with a sharp outer edge by the moon Mimas. But even in the Voyager images, it was clear the B ring was too complex and chaotic to be shaped by Mimas alone.

Now, in a new analysis published in the Astronomical Journal, thousands of Cassini images gathered over the course of four years have revealed three separate wave patterns that are not driven by any moons, but spring up spontaneously by drawing energy from the small, random motions of ring particles. The waves, which can be hundreds of miles long, keep themselves going by reflecting off the ring’s edges.

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Cassini has also snapped pictures of sharp, stalagmite-like peaks at the edge of the B ring that made themselves known by throwing long spiky shadows
Source: www.wired.com...
Additinal link to Casini imagaes at Astronomical Journal: iopscience.iop.org...

The video at the source link is just as cool as hell as it can be. I love this stuff. Thank God we have the ability to research and document this stuff.

If we are the only intelligent life in the universe-capable of leaving your planet and exploring, then dam it-lets get to it. There are so many beautiful things to be seen and learned about.

Saturn holds a special place in my heart. I am sure in many of yours to. Don't know why, just does.

Anyway, in reading the ariticle and watching the video, they convinced me. Just look at that 2nd photo in this thread. AMAZING. Sounds like they got it.

Flag for being an awesome universe.. The universe is full on the Unexplained / the Unexplored / Unknown waiting to be discovered... Awesome

Originally posted by anon72
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Ummmmmmmmmm - and NASA have known about this little ditty for how long now?

That is some serious weirdness!

...something going on there.

reply to post by watchZEITGEISTnow


Could you please elaborate on your statetment?

Maybe I misunderstand. I thought they just discovered this?