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Cosmic Kittens: Saturn Features Get Feline Names

  

Category:  Health, Science & Technology

Via:  matti-viikate  •  8 years ago  •  2 comments

Cosmic Kittens: Saturn Features Get Feline Names



Cosmic Kittens: Saturn Features Get Feline Names
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Cassini scientists have nicknamed features of Saturn after cats.

Credit: Space.com; Mattias Malmer/NASA

If you know anything about Saturn, you probably know that it's a planet surrounded by rings. But did you know that it's also surrounded by cats?

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which  plunged into Saturn  on Sept. 15, has discovered at least 60 "kittens" orbiting in Saturn's F ring. These features aren't actually young cats, but Cassini scientists have been naming them after kittens, mostly just for fun.

Saturn's kittens are a group of small clumps and baby moons, or moonlets, that occupy the planet's F ring. Like the rest of   Saturn's rings , this thin outer ring is made up of countless particles that range in size. When enough of those particles bump into one another and stick together, they aggregate into larger clumps — and become eligible for a kitten name. [ Photos: Saturn's Glorious Rings Up Close ]


https://www.space.com/38233-saturn-features-kitten-names.html


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Matti Viikate
Freshman Silent
1  seeder  Matti Viikate    8 years ago

Thank you for visiting, comments are welcome.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2  Kavika     8 years ago

Moonlets surrounding the planet...Kind of funny when you think about it. 

Thanks for the article.

 
 

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