Saturns Moon Adds To The Rings

[Dubh Aingeal]

ScienceDaily is running a story about the recently discovered interaction between Saturn's A-ring and one of Saturn's small moons, Enceladus. Thanks to data from Cassini, scientists have discovered that ejected matter from Enceladus' ice geysers is absorbed into the A-ring, where it is then trapped.

This is the latest surprising phenomenon associated with the ice geysers of Enceladus to be discovered or confirmed by Cassini scientists. Earlier, the geysers were found to be responsible for the content of the E-ring. Next, the whole magnetic environment of Saturn was found to be weighed down by the material spewing from Enceladus, which becomes plasma -- a gas of electrically charged particles. Now, Cassini scientists confirm that the plasma, which creates a donut-shaped cloud around Saturn, is being snatched by Saturn's A-ring, which acts like a giant sponge where the plasma is absorbed.

[Homicidalheathen]

I heard (I think in March?) you will be able to see saturn once pretty easy this year.....get your telescopes ready!

http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm

oh and there is the hot spot discovery too

http://www.thunderbolts.info/thunderblogs/...n_confirmed.htm

[Troy Spiral (13)]

For some reason the topic post info isn't striking me as "surprising" i guess just due to my lack of understanding about the specifics. (I'm a fairly hardcore astronomy buff, this is just not something discussed very often)

That "hotspot" article HH links to is pretty interesting.

In terms of seeing planets though...Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter are easily seen every year in most places, just need to take the time to figure out where/when to look. Mars/Saturn/Jupiter are especially easy to find, and with binocs or a small el-cheapo telescope (kid toy price range) Jupiter and Saturn are particularly interesting sights.