Add another moon to Saturn, the count goes up to 61

William Atkins
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 19:36

Science - Space

This discovery is important to astronomers studying Saturn and its moons because before this little moon was discovered, astronomers did not know how this ring kept its supply of dust.

All of the other rings of Saturn contained moons that help to resupply their rings with dusty materials--spewing out materials when they collide with other nearby bodies.

However, the G Ring didn’t have a known moon of its own—at least, until this moonlet was discovered.

Dr. Hedman states, "Before Cassini, the G ring was the only dusty ring that was not clearly associated with a known moon, which made it odd. The discovery of this moonlet, together with other Cassini data, should help us make sense of this previously mysterious ring." [CNN: “Tiny moon discovered orbiting Saturn ”]

Author's note: Personally, I think S/2008 S 1, the '61st' discovered moon of Saturn, should be named Maris, in honor of New York Yankees slugger Roger Maris.

In the year 19'61' Roger Maris hit '61' home runs to break Babe Ruth's 1927 record of 60 home runs in a single season of Major League baseball.

But, that's just my idea! The IAU names moons within our Solar System after the moon is confirmed and its orbit determined.

Most moons are named after characters in Roman and Greek mythology.

However, Maris is an immortal in the world of baseball lore, so maybe his name would be considered by the IAU as a proper name to use for this tiny but powerful 61st moon of Saturn.