NASA finds evidence of rings around Saturn's moon

by Rich Bowden - Mar 7 2008, 01:19

NASA's Cassini spacecraft had found evidence of rings around Saturn's second-largest moon Rhea, the first time rings have been discovered around a moon.

Rhea taken from Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

First hinted at during Cassini's close fly around Rhea in 2005, the most recent evidence picked up by Cassini's six specially-designed instruments appears to show a broad debris disk and at least one ring around the moon.Previously rings of debris had only been discovered around planets.

Artist's concept of the ring of debris that may orbit Saturn's second-largest moon, Rhea.Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL

Though discovering evidence of rings, Cassini has yet to glimpse them. Scientists are hoping the spacecraft may be able to encounter them on a future close flyby of Rhea."Until now, only planets were known to have rings, but now Rhea seems to have some family ties to its ringed parent Saturn," said Geraint Jones, a Cassini scientist in a NASA statement.Jones added that the particles circling the 1,500 kilometers (950 miles) in diameter Rhea range from the size of small pebbles to boulders. He said additional dust clouds may extend up to 5,900 kilometers (3,000 miles) from the moon's centre."[The] rings may even have survived since Rhea's formation," wrote lead author Geraint Jones, a space physicist from University College London in a paper published by the journal Science.Funded by NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, the Cassini spacecraft set out in 1997 and reached Saturn in 2004.For further audio details please see here.

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