May 24, 2007
-
Saturn’s largest ring surprises scientists
WASHINGTON (UPI) — NASA scientists say Saturn’s largest and most densely packed ring is composed of tightly packed clumps of particles separated by nearly empty gaps.
The discovery that the clumps in Saturn’s B ring are neatly organized and constantly colliding, which surprised scientists, came from data returned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Cassini spacecraft.
“The rings are different from the picture we had in our minds,” said Larry Esposito, the principal investigator for the Cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph that supplied the data. “We originally thought we would see a uniform cloud of particles. Instead we find that the particles are clumped together with empty spaces in between.
“If you were flying under Saturn’s rings in an airplane, you would see these flashes of sunlight come through the gaps, followed by dark and so forth,” he added. “This is different from flying under a uniform cloud of particles.”
Since previous interpretations assumed the ring particles were distributed uniformly, scientists underestimated the total mass of Saturn’s rings, NASA said. The mass might actually be two or more times previous estimates.
A paper summarizing the findings appears in the journal Icarus.I’m off to do a Public School Assembly in Pipestone, MN – Character Connex.
The Character Connex was so much fun. We did 4 assemblies at 2 different Elementary Schools. At the last school the kids were so excited. It was great.I’ve been Tagged. Random Facts:
1. I have 8 children.
2. I’m a Children’s Pastor
3. I take care of the finances of 2 people. (Checkbooks)
4. I’m a CASA representative – Court Appointed Special Advocate for children.
5. I was made a legal guardian to a 18 year old girl with special needs.
Comments (13)
i love how saturn looks! good luck today
You said to let you know when I put up more Obama info….I just did…..
Interesting facts about Saturn! Hey! I just noticed that your occupation is a Children’s Pastor! That’s what I did for seven years before we moved to Denmark to be missionaries. I have also been a school teacher and a school principal. Funny, now I am not working with kids that much, but I loved it when I did it! I would love to know more about what you do. I worked in a big church, and we had about 260 kids. I had over 100 volunteers and ran seven weekly programs for kids. It was a LOT of work! It seems like we never had enough people. Do you find that to be a problem for you?
Hope you have a good trip. Be safe!
Very interesting! I am always amazed at the heavens!!! My kids are all grown up now, I miss assemblies
oh I adore this information
will have to read further
hope your day is a good one
YOU have been TAGGED… sorry. ang
Thanks for the random facts… those are good ones.
Ang
Oh my, when I read “Saturn,” I first read it as “Satan.”
Haha.
Thought I should tell you that.
8 children… o_O how do you do it?
RYC:That’s awesome that you can always get workers. Do you screen all the people who work with kids? In NYS we had to do that. It’s the law that anyone working with kids has a police check. It’s sad that the world is like it is, but we try to do what we can to keep the kids safe. Now that law has also been passed in Denmark. Our church here is much smaller, and we know everybody, but it is still a good idea. Have you ever read Diane Layton’s book “Soldiers With Little Feet?” It is a very inspiring book for children’s pastors to read.
you are a very special person!
Space….the last great frontier ! Beam me out of here…. Great info !
What really amazes me is how they figure out stuff that is a gazillion light years away from us.