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NASA telescope discovers giant ring around Saturn
Associated Press , Pasadena, California | Wed, 10/07/2009 8:48 AM | Sci-Tech
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Tuesday that the ring lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane.
The ring is made of a thin array of ice and dust particles.
JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin says the ring is very diffuse and doesn't reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it.
Although the ring dust is very cold - minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit - it shines with thermal radiation.
The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles (5.95 million kilometers) from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles (11.9 million kilometers).
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