Scientists detect first known belt of moonlets in Saturn's rings

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A team led CU-Boulder has detected an unseen belt of moonlets in Saturns outermost A ring (top image outer purple band). The gravity of the largest moonlets creates propeller-shaped wakes in the ring material 10 to 20 miles across (boxed in bottom im ...
A team led CU-Boulder has detected an unseen belt of moonlets in Saturn’s outermost "A" ring (top image, outer purple band). The gravity of the largest moonlets creates propeller-shaped "wakes" in the ring material 10 to 20 miles across (boxed, in bottom image). Credit: NASA/ JPL/Space Science Institute/University of Colorado

A narrow belt harboring moonlets as large as football stadiums discovered in Saturn's outermost ring probably resulted when a larger moon was shattered by a wayward asteroid or comet eons ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder study.


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