June 12, 2009 -- Tiny moons embedded in Saturn's ring system create gravitational speed bumps that redirect the flow of particles in the otherwise flat rings, new findings from the Cassini spacecraft show.
Taking advantage of a very low sun angle relative to the planet's rings, Cassini scientists found long shadows in a ring gap created by the five-mile-wide Saturn moon Dephnis, which orbits in Saturn's outer A ring.
Extrapolating from the results, the team determined the moon was creating a vertical structure about one mile in height -- about 150 times as high as the rings are thick.
The planet's three main rings are about 30 feet thick.
Scientists had predicted that gravitational forces associated with embedded moons would create vertical structures as they dip above and below the ring plane, but they've never before observed it.
Taking advantage of a very low sun angle relative to the planet's rings, Cassini scientists found long shadows in a ring gap created by the five-mile-wide Saturn moon Dephnis, which orbits in Saturn's outer A ring.
Extrapolating from the results, the team determined the moon was creating a vertical structure about one mile in height -- about 150 times as high as the rings are thick.
The planet's three main rings are about 30 feet thick.
Scientists had predicted that gravitational forces associated with embedded moons would create vertical structures as they dip above and below the ring plane, but they've never before observed it.
