Largest ring around Saturn discovered

NASA space telescope discovers largest ring around Saturn_English_Xinhua
" "This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer
at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "If you could see the
ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky, one on
either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of
Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of
Virginia are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published
online Wednesday by the journal Nature. "
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_12190222.htm

I wonder if they mean it would look like two full moons from Saturn's
surface, or from here on Earth's surface? If from Earth's surface,
that's one truly colossal find.

Yousuf Khan

Yousuf Khan wrote:
NASA space telescope discovers largest ring around Saturn_English_Xinhua
" "This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer
at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "If you could see the
ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky, one on
either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of
Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of
Virginia are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published
online Wednesday by the journal Nature. "
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_12190222.htm

I wonder if they mean it would look like two full moons from Saturn's
surface, or from here on Earth's surface? If from Earth's surface,
that's one truly colossal find.

Yousuf Khan

It would seem to be as seen from Earth. The article claims
that the ring has outer radius at 12 million kilometers from
Saturn (presumably Saturn's "surface"). Saturn's radius is
about 58200 km. So the total width presented is

w = 2 * (Rsat + Rring) = 2.41 x 10^7 km = 0.16 AU

Saturn orbits at about 9.54 AU, Earth at 1 AU, so the minimum
distance betwixt the two is about 8.54 AU. The angular size
of the ring as seen from Earth would then be about

atan(0.16/8.54) = 1.07 degrees

which is about twice the angular width of the Moon or Sun as
seen from Earth.

On Oct 7, 8:34*am, "Greg Neill" wrote:
Yousuf Khan wrote:
I wonder if they mean it would look like two full moons from Saturn's
surface, or from here on Earth's surface? If from Earth's surface,
that's one truly colossal find.

Yousuf Khan

It would seem to be as seen from Earth. *

Truly colossal! Here's another article about it, and it has an
illustration showing the relative size of it with Saturn.

Astronomers Discover Massive Saturn Ring - National News Story - WKMG
Orlando
http://www.clickorlando.com/national...5/detail.html#

Yousuf Khan

On Oct 7, 1:10*am, Yousuf Khan wrote:
NASA space telescope discovers largest ring around Saturn_English_Xinhua
" * *"This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer
at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "If you could see the
ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky, one on
either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of
Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of
Virginia are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published
online Wednesday by the journal Nature. "http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/07/content_12190222.htm

I wonder if they mean it would look like two full moons from Saturn's
surface, or from here on Earth's surface? If from Earth's surface,
that's one truly colossal find.

* * * * Yousuf Khan

Here's another article with a video about the new rings. Good
animations.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | World News America | New ring detected around
Saturn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ca/8296066.stm

Yousuf Khan