Newest NASA Space Telescope Discovery!!!

[thilzz]

NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

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This artist's conception shows a nearly invisible ring around Saturn - the largest of the giant planet's many rings.
It was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Keck


October 06, 2009

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings.

The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles).
One of Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.

Saturn's newest halo is thick, too -- its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring.

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[thilzz]

This picture shows a slice of Saturn's largest ring, as seen in infrared light by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

The ring has a diameter equivalent to 300 Saturns lined up side to side. And it's thick too -- about 20 Saturns could fit into its vertical height. The ring is tilted about 27 degrees from Saturn’s main ring plane

Spitzer image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Virginia

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[thilzz]

Infrared Ring Around Saturn

The picture of Saturn was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Spitzer image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Virginia

Hubble image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA


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[tharinda76]

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[rowithmicro]

UBA NASA EKEDA WADA?

 

[panchaz]

UBA NASA EKEDA WADA?

me sister kenek banz

 

[kasuwa1235]

ela pics tika

 

[thilzz]

This diagram illustrates the extent of the largest ring around Saturn, discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The ring is huge, and far from the gas planet and the rest of its majestic rings.

Why did it take so long to find something so big?
The answer is that the ring is very tenuous, made up of a sparse collection of ice and dust particles. If you could transport yourself to the ring, you wouldn't even know you were there because the particles are so far apart. There's not a lot of sunlight out at Saturn, so this small density of particles doesn't reflect much visible light. Spitzer was able to spot the band because it sees infrared light, or heat radiation, from objects. Even though the ring material is very cold, it still gives off heat that can Spitzer can see.

The discovery offers a possible solution to the mystery of the moon Iapetus.
Years after Giovanni Cassini discovered Iapetus in 1671, he correctly deduced that one side of the moon is white and the other dark in a pattern that some say resembles the yin-yang symbol or a tennis ball. Astronomers think it is possible that the newfound ring, which orbits in the opposite direction of Iapetus, is the cause of the two-faced coloring. As the ring circles around, particles could be drifting inward and splattering the icy moon on the face like bugs on a windshield.

The pictures of Saturn, Phoebe and Iapetus were taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The ring is an artist's illustration.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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[kumarasiri]

thanx for info and pics! nice post!

 

[thilzz]

hmmm....interesting !!! thanks 4 sharing !!!

ela

 

[maxxiz6]

thx

 

[fzlhmt]

එලනේ, ඔයත් හොයාගන්න දේවල් හා

බොහොම ස්තූතියි බෙදා හදා ගත්තට

 

[marley]

ela kiri.........eth matanam mewa theren naha

 

[Dj IcE_A]

Thanx 4 sheraing sis...

 

[ac2000]

Thx for share..

 

[thilzz]

ela kiri.........eth matanam mewa theren naha

kiyawala balanna, ethakota pahadili wei

 

[thilzz]

thanx for info and pics! nice post!

thnx

 

[sandun thilaka]

Thankz 4 Sharing..
Nice post thilzz

 

[harintheman]

ela ela thankss for sharing