Zombie Elvis wrote:
>
> It seems that Cassini has found evidence of a debris ring around
> Saturn's moon Rhea. The rings haven't been observed directly but gaps
> in a pattern of electrons detected by Cassini's Magnetospheric Imaging
> Instrument suggest that rings do exist. This is interesting but not
> entirely unprecedented as Iapetus has a broad ridge around its equator
> which has been interpreted as the remnants of a ring that might have
> existed around that moon as well.
>
> http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001351/
> http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=24917
> http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-rhea20080306.html
>
> It's interesting how the more Saturn's moons are explored, the more
> each of them seems to take on a personality of its own from Titan
> which is practically a planet in its own right to Enceladus with its
> ice volcanoes, Hyperion with its spongy, comet-like structure, Death
> Star-like Mimas, and now moons like Rhea and Iapetus with rings --
> probably as a result of some collision. The Saturn neighborhood would
> make a tremendous backdrop for sci-fi stories with its beauty and
> danger -- all that debris has to be a navigation hazard.
FWLIW, I did draft out an SF story based on a (semi-super-)terrestrial
planet (2.03 E) with quite a large ring system. I never got the
characters
right though, which is why I carried it no further.
But the work needed to get a viable space-based economy in such an
uncompromising environment ... in hindsight it's easy to see I didn't do
nearly enough work, but I was economically illiterate then - my only
excuse. (A large enough ring system and it's very difficult to find
launch
slots and orbits where you can last for long enough ... with a
superterrestrial you use up three stages just reaching the upper reaches
of
the atmosphere, never mind orbit.)
Just my 0.02c
Wesley Parish
> --
> Cause, really, nothing says "I'm a counter culture
> rebel, fighting the establishment" like an Aibo on
> a skateboard.
> - Seen on Slashdot
>
> Roberto Castillo
> robertocastillo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://zombie-gulch.myminicity.com/
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