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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Moonlet Study Sheds Light on Origins of Saturn's Rings


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Saturn's rings are seen here in a panoramic mosaic of 165 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft. The color contrast has been greatly exaggerated to better show the color and size differences between the rings.

A new study found clusters of large ice chunks in the rings, lending support to the idea that the rings formed from moons that were slowly pulverized.

Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute