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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Flipside on April 16, 2014, 05:38:05 pm

Title: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: Flipside on April 16, 2014, 05:38:05 pm: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27056698

Ok, it's more likely a big dirty snowball at the moment, but still cool if confirmed :)
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: Turambar on April 16, 2014, 05:51:42 pm: Get a probe over there ASAP!
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: StarSlayer on April 16, 2014, 06:08:31 pm: All these worlds are yours, except this dust ball we're forming around Saturn. Attempt no landing there. Use them together. Use them in peace.
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: yuezhi on April 16, 2014, 06:13:55 pm: [Insert philosophical quote here]
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: An4ximandros on April 16, 2014, 06:36:51 pm: A single spore lands, finds nourishment in decay and attains maturity...
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: Mongoose on April 16, 2014, 07:15:43 pm: I vote we keep the official name as Peggy.
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: Nuke on April 16, 2014, 07:51:08 pm: Quote from: Turambar on April 16, 2014, 05:51:42 pm
Get a probe over there ASAP!

i wonder how much deltaV cassini has left. why send a probe when one is over there already?
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: watsisname on April 16, 2014, 10:24:19 pm: Quote from: Turambar on April 16, 2014, 05:51:42 pm
Get a probe over there ASAP!

A direct flight to Saturn via Hohmann transfer takes ~5 years. Peggy could very well be destroyed before we even got there.

Quote from: Nuke on April 16, 2014, 07:51:08 pm
i wonder how much deltaV cassini has left. why send a probe when one is over there already?

Lots. Not in the sense of fuel (it has very little), but by gravitational assists from the Saturnian moons, particularly Titan. During its primary mission, Cassini has changed its Saturn-relative velocity by over 30km/s via this method, which is more than the delta-v required to get from Earth to Saturn in the first place.

But the problem is that gravity assists takes a lot of time, both to plan and to execute. We could probably do it, but with the uncertainty in Peggy's future evolution there's again no guarantee that we would see anything by the time we got in a more favorable position.

Cassini will be closer to it in 2016 anyway, and there's still plenty of science we can do in the meantime. We'll just have to wait and see what happens!
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: Lorric on April 17, 2014, 06:13:32 am: Was anyone else surprised that Saturn has 62 moons? It was some years ago when I last saw the number, but then it only had like 30 of them! :lol:
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: watsisname on April 17, 2014, 03:45:33 pm: Yeah, the gas giants all have lots of moons. As a consequence of their large masses and distance from the sun, their gravitational spheres of influence are very large, so they can support extensive satellite systems. Most of the moons are tiny captured objects on large and highly inclined orbits. It's very hard to find them, especially being so far from the sun. It's probably a very safe bet that the number of known moons will continue to increase, especially for the even more distant Uranus and Neptune!
Title: Re: 'New Saturnian Moon' in the process of forming
Post by: + Rennie Ash + on April 20, 2014, 11:55:39 am: If you could live on Saturn, very large asteroids waiting to crash into and draw a big mark on the planet... :nod: