Oct. 16, 2006 — Taking advantage of a rare photo moment, scientists using the Cassini spacecraft have found faint
new rings circling Saturn and hints of hidden moons.
The images were taken as Saturn was virtually dead-set centered in front of
the sun, as viewed by the orbiting Cassini probe. Cassini's cameras detected two new wispy trails of particles lit up like streams of dust in front of a brightly lit
window, and
confirmed two other previously discovered rings.
Scientists believe the rings are dust particles caused by asteroids or comets striking the surfaces of
small inner moons circling Saturn. The moons' gravity is too weak to hold on to any kind of surface
dust, so impacts blast material into Saturn's orbit, where the particles assemble into loosely packed rings in
the moons' orbital paths.
"The rings we're talking about are very faint, just a few dust grains per square meter," said Matt
Hedman, a Cassini scientist at Cornell University in New York.
One new ring was found sharing an orbit with the tiny moons Janus and Epimetheus. Scientists found
a second ring near Pallene, a 2.5-mile diameter moon discovered by Cassini in 2004.
Oddly, a similarly sized moon named Methone, previously discovered near Pallene, does not seem to have
spawned a ring, the Cassini team found.
