Gaps in the soup of high-energy particles near the orbits of two of Saturn’s tiny moons indicate that Saturn may be surrounded by undiscovered, near-invisible partial rings. A paper in the February issue of the journal Icarus suggests that the larger saturnian moons may not be the only ones contributing material to Saturn's ring system. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

The discovery of more oddly shaped gaps in Saturn's rings strengthens the case that one of the planet's moons was smashed to bits in an ancient collision. Shaped like airplane propellers, the gaps likely formed when "moonlets" as large as football stadiums plowed through Saturn's ring particles while orbiting the planet. picked by AutumnLotus 12 months ago

New observations by a spacecraft suggest Saturn's second-largest moon may be surrounded by rings. If confirmed, it would the first time a ring system has been found around a moon. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Saturn: jewel of the solar system, taker of breaths, ringed beauty. Even veteran astronomers can't help but gasp when they see her through a small telescope.

Red Alert: Saturn's rings are vanishing.

Around the world, amateur astronomers have noticed the change; Saturn's wide open rings are rapidly narrowing into a thin line. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Saturn has a newly discovered ring, a faint trail of particles just visible in between some of its better-known rings, NASA said on Tuesday. picked by Galoot 2 years ago

Saturn is now at its best in our late-winter sky. It appears below and to the left of the conspicuous "sickle" or backwards question-mark pattern of stars marking the head and mane of the constellation of Leo, the Lion.

What we see with the naked eye is a bright yellowish-white "star" shining with a steady light. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

Scientists appear to have solved a long-standing mystery about the cause of anomalies in Jupiter's gossamer rings. In a new study published, they report that a faint extension of the outermost ring beyond the orbit of Jupiter's moon Thebe, and other observed deviations from an accepted model of ring formation, result from the interplay of shadow and sunlight on dust particles that make up the ring... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

Saturn's shimmering rings may be as old as the solar system, scientists said Wednesday, debunking earlier theories that the rings were formed during the dinosaur age. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

Cassini scientists may have identified the source of one of Saturn's more mysterious rings. Saturn's G ring likely is produced by relatively large, icy particles that reside within a bright arc on the ring's inner edge. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

In a find that sheds light on how Earth-like planets may form, astronomers this week reported finding the first evidence of small, sandy particles orbiting a newborn solar system at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Colossal impacts in the outer reaches of the solar system may have bowled over remote, frozen moons, leading to vast cracks across their surfaces. The many impact craters that have pocked our moon and Earth reveal our solar system can be like a shooting gallery, with asteroids and comets regularly striking planets and their companions. These monumental blows can literally set moons rocking. picked by AutumnLotus 11 months ago

One of Saturn's rings does housecleaning, soaking up material gushing from the fountains on Saturn's tiny ice moon Enceladus, according to new observations from the Cassini spacecraft. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

Particles of invisible "dark matter" have been detected deep inside a mountain in Italy, a collaboration of Italian and Chinese physicists claims. But others remain sceptical of the result, because other experiments have failed to detect any dark matter at all. Update on this post. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

Two decades of scrutinizing Saturn are finally paying off, as scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

This 3D movie was made from a sequence of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it crossed the plane of Saturn's main rings. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

The latest mystery is the giant hexagon circling Saturn's north pole. Nothing like the hexagon has ever been seen at any other planet, with each of its sides nearly 7,500 miles (12,500 kilometers) across-big enough to fit nearly four Earths inside. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Scientists have gotten their best “look” ever at the invisible ring of energetic ions trapped in Saturn’s giant magnetic field, finding that it is asymmetric and dynamic, unlike similar rings that appear around Earth. Includes VIDEO. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

For the first time, astronomers have observed the initial phase in the formation of an earth-like planet. What astronomers observed was that a protoplanetary disk, or ring, around the binary star known as KH 15D, is composed of solid particles larger than what is usually observed in space. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Scientists on Wednesday said they have an explanation how one of Saturn's moons can spew out a giant plume of water vapor, adding to evidence a source of life -- water -- lies beneath the moon's frozen surface. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

One of Saturn's moons may once have harboured a liquid ocean beneath its icy surface. Tethys is a mid-sized satellite with a density close to that of pure ice. But a large valley system visible today must have formed when the crust was being heated and under great strain. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago