Saturn's rings likely to contain ice, mud :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: Saturn's rings likely to contain ice, mud

Posted by admin on Friday, July 09, 2004 - 12:33 AM

Saturn's rings are much dirtier than originally believed, according to new observations by the Cassini spacecraft. The new findings reveal that the inner regions of the rings may be packed with rock and mud.
Scientists have known for decades that the rings are mostly made of water, but now they have found the amount of water increases toward the the outer edge. How the rings formed is still a mystery. Some scientists believe a mud-like icy object, "like gunk in a skating rink," from the outer solar system was lured in close and broken apart by Saturn's huge gravity. The new data, though inconclusive, can be read to support that theory. Nobody knows for sure what the gunk is, but some scientists say it may contain silicates and organic material, the stuff of rocks and dirt on Earth. The ice is also thought to be made of water mixed with other frozen substances such as ammonia. At the present stage, Cassini's cameras were still incapable of resolving the individual icy boulders and smaller particles thought to make up the rings, scientists said. The Cassini spacecraft was named after Domenico Cassini, who in the 17th Century discovered what is now called the "Cassini division" in Saturn's rings. The rings were first spotted by Galileo shortly after the invention of the telescope. The ring system of Saturn begins from the inside out in this order: D, C, B, A, F, G, E.

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