Space telescope finds supersized Saturn ring

William Atkins
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 18:33

Science - Space

NASA announced on October 6, 2009, that its Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered another ring around the planet Saturn. And, it’s a big one. The thickness of the newly found ring would allow one billion Earths to be strung end to end.


NASA announced on October 6, that its Spitzer Space Telescope found another ring around Saturn. The ring is much larger than the other rings.

The thickness of the newly discovered ring would let about one billion Earths to be laid end to end.

The October 7, 2009 NASA media brief “NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn,” states that the Spitzer Space Telescope—which is currently about 66 million miles (107 million kilometers) away from Earth in an orbit around the Sun—has recently discovered the largest ring around Saturn.



[Image of Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has a prominent system of rings that consist of ice particles with smaller amounts of dust and rocky debris.]

An artist’s interpretation of the newly discovered ring is found on the NASA website: NASA’s Infrared Ring.

The caption for the image states, “NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a nearly invisible ring around Saturn -- the largest of the giant planet's many rings. The ring is so diffuse that it reflects little sunlight, or visible light that we see with our eyes. But its dusty particles shine with infrared light, or heat radiation, that Spitzer can see.”

Page two provides some statistics and information about the newly found ring of Saturn.