Largest ring discovered around Saturn
by Andy Smith | October 12, 2009 9:03am PDT | Image 1 of 6
Previous | Next
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered a new ring which is larger than the other previously known rings around Saturn. It has never been discovered before because it is made up of dust and ice particles that are so far apart - if you were in the middle of the ring, you wouldn't know it, according to NASA. Spitzer was able to sense the dust since cool objects glow in infrared or thermal radiation.
The edge of the ring closest to Saturn is about 3.7 million miles from the planet. It is about 7.4 million miles wide and about 20 times as thick as the diameter of Saturn. It lies on a 27-degree angle from the planet and could hold about 1 billion Earths.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The discussion hasn’t started yet. Why don’t you begin it?
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
Facebook Activity
