The Cassini craft has discovered 2 new moons orbiting Saturn. This brings the tally of the Saturnine moons to 33.
The images were taken by Cassini on June 1 from 10 million miles out, as it approached the ringed planet. The spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on June 30.
The two newly spotted, faint moons are about 2 miles and 2 1/2 miles across, and 120,000 miles and 131,000 miles respectively from Saturn's center. That's considerably smaller than the moons with 12 mile diameters previously discovered in Saturn's orbit.
They are located between the orbits of moons Mimas and Enceladus, a surprise to scientists who thought such tiny satellites would have been shattered long ago in collisions with comets.
They expect to see even more new moons. So keep an eye out for Saturnine Mooon watch. Place your bets now as to how many they end up with. No names have been announced for the newbies.
- Art Neuro
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