NASA Spacecraft Reveals Mysterious Object Punching Through One Of Saturn's Rings

What is going on with Saturn's rings? It appears that recent images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal what seems to be a small object that has ripped through one of the planet's otherwise flat rings. The purpose of the NASA mission, the BBC explains, was to observe "an equinox on Saturn, in a bid to learn more about the gas giant's ring system."

Discover Magazine's take on it:

It looks for all the world - or worlds -- like some small object on an inclined orbit has punched through Saturn's narrow F ring, bursting out from underneath, and dragging behind it a wake of particles from the rings. The upward-angled structure is definitely real, as witnessed by the shadow it's casting on the ring material to the lower left. And what's with the bright patch right where this object seems to have slammed in the rings? Did it shatter millions of icy particles, revealing their shinier interior material, making them brighter? Clearly, something awesome and amazing happened here.

Comments

[rf dude]

01:21 AM on 08/15/2009

Everybody - get a board with a nail in it.

We CAN defeat them!!
--

[CanUFeel2012]

03:14 PM on 08/14/2009

THE DARK LINE TRAILING THE OBJECT SEEMS TO BE PART OF IT, NOT A SHADOW. . IF SO......DAM!

[RazeTemple]

09:59 AM on 08/14/2009

And eventually they'll find out its an old piece of the space station or a used rocket stage, or just space garbage that floated there from Earth. Ha!

[Tunghoy]

12:55 AM on 08/14/2009

Hard to tell if the object is a Cylon bogey or if another stolen stargate fell out of Ba'al's cargo ship.

[Berkeleylefty]

11:46 PM on 08/13/2009

Wall-eeeeeeee!
Eve!

[Iccarus]

09:46 PM on 08/13/2009

That's not the only thing bursting out beneath saturn's F Ring. I tell ya Saturn gets no respect.

[JustAThought56]

09:58 PM on 08/13/2009

LOL!!!

[DonRoberto]

07:17 PM on 08/13/2009

It's our Alien overlords, coming this way. They've been monitoring Fox News and they're mad as hell about the "death panels."

[Berkeleylefty]

11:47 PM on 08/13/2009

They are coming "To Serve Fox News" It's a cookbook! It'a cookbook!

[loungelizard]

07:06 PM on 08/13/2009

HAL: I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do

[Bubba Gump]

06:25 PM on 08/13/2009

NCC-1701. U.S.S. Enterprise.

[markytex]

06:08 PM on 08/13/2009

that's my old polaroid picture i took in the dark that i accidentally scratched.

[urnumbersix]

05:41 PM on 08/13/2009

It's about TIME they showed up. Late - as usual! We needed a "game changer" yesterday!
And Now their excuse is that they're stuck in a Ring! These Bozo's are supposed to Help Us?

[JustinBoldaji]

05:39 PM on 08/13/2009

That's weird. Is it shooting up OUT of Saturn?

Or is it skimming BY Saturn, and just colliding with the rings?

And if it was an object just flying by, wouldn't it have been sucked into the planet by it's intense gravity?

Weeeeeeeeeeeird.

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

04:40 PM on 08/13/2009

Kubrick Monolith

[TheRagingModerate]

05:01 PM on 08/13/2009

No -- that's on Mars' moon, Phobos. See Buzz Aldrin's statement in a recent CSPAN interview...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8KN_uRfWqU

(Not sure that I embedded the link correctly, so if it doesn't work, just search YouTube for "Buzz Aldrin Phobos" and you'll easily find the 1-minute clip from three weeks ago)

[Candew]

04:23 PM on 08/13/2009

Jesus? ...yup no doubt about it.

I definitely make out a small head with a flowing white robe...it's Jesus. No question about it. ;)

[Davonne Rushing]

05:13 PM on 08/13/2009

The Power of Christ Compels you!

[traveler09]

03:52 PM on 08/13/2009

See Bob Dean's recent speech at Exopolitics in Barcelona with classified NASA photos in June of this year. Its on youtube.

Peace. Its gonna be okay people.

[CorporatePork]

05:08 PM on 08/13/2009

I'll send buzz aldrin over immeadiately.