NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed mysterious kilometer-sized objects that punch through Saturn’s chaotic and ever-changing F ring, leaving trails of ice behind them.
The objects pierce the planet’s thin ring at a gentle speed of just two meters per second, and then drag glittering ice particles out into space. The trails are typically 40 to 180 kilometers long. Astronomers are calling the ice trails “mini-jets.”
Cassini imaging team member Carl Murray, based at Queen Mary University of London, said in a press release that the jets unlock some secrets of the curious F ring.
“These latest Cassini results go to show how the F ring is even more dynamic than we ever thought. The F ring region is like a bustling zoo of objects from a kilometer in size to moons like Prometheus a hundred kilometers in size, creating a spectacular show.”
via Wired
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
