Saturn's Moon Prometheus Spawning Moonlets 47
astroengine writes "For the first time ever, astronomers have witnessed the formation of celestial objects... in Saturn's rings. As the Saturnian moon Prometheus dashes through the gas giant's rings, it leaves large formations of ice behind, some as large as 12 kilometers in diameter. When the small moon makes another pass, it is not known whether these giant 'snowballs' remain or get destroyed, but according to Linda Spilker, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: 'You can think of Saturn's rings as miniature versions of the disks where planets form. The same physical processes are occurring.'"
The Planetary Society blog has further explanation, as well as pictures and a movie of Prometheus' interaction with Saturn's rings. The Cassini team has released some fantastic images of the fans and clumps in the F ring, as well as a simulation showing how the ring's particles are affected by the moon's passing.
Re:Fuel for space probe or spaceship? (Score:2, Informative)
When we're at the stage that we can land on these kinds of objects (The Japs have managed to get one of their probes to 'land' or 'dock' with an asteroid I think) - then we've got the problems that come with efficiently harvesting and refining the materials.
Don't get me wrong, I think the idea has merrit, but we haven't reached that stage of the game yet. We would still need to probe it extensively - see how much of it is usable, recreate the conditions it occurs in to engineer a way to refine it, then make an efficient way to build that into a ship or probe such that it's more efficient to have it refuel at these moonlets as opposed to just extra fuel from the start.
Crappy summary (Score:3, Informative)
"Over time, the disrupted particles -- mostly dense, sticky ice -- can take on a life of their own, clumping together under their own growing gravitational force."
The summary only talks about celestial objects destroying each other, then simply states that scientists are witnessing the "creation" of objects. We've seen stuff smash together all the time. The subject matter at hand is what happens afterward.