Saturn is pregnant: Planet to 'give birth' to new moon

The planet looks set to welcome its 63rd moon which scientists have named Peggy.

By Dave Lancaster |

15:25 17 April 2014

Nasa’s Cassini-Huygens space probe has revealed new images that show that Saturn is forming a new moon. 

 

The moon, which scientists have dubbed Peggy, will join Saturn's brood of 62 others, the largest of which is the massive Titan. 

 

Astronomer Carl Murray was quoted by The Independent: “We have not seen anything like this before. We may be looking at the act of birth, where this object is leaving the rings and heading off to be a moon in its own right.

 

“The theory holds that Saturn long ago had a much more massive ring system capable of giving birth to larger moons. 

 

"As the moons formed near the edge, they depleted the rings and evolved, so the ones that formed earliest are the largest and the farthest out.”

 

Saturn's rings are made mainly of ice with a tiny amount of rock. Images showed where Peggy's gravity was affecting the particles. 

 

Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory elaborated: "The object is not expected to grow any larger, and may even be falling apart.

 

"But the process of its formation and outward movement aids in our understanding of how Saturn's icy moons, including the cloud-wrapped Titan and ocean-holding Enceladus, may have formed in more massive rings long ago."

 

Each moon that Saturn has produced has been gradually smaller than the rest, leading scientists to believe that the planet's potential for creating more could soon be depleted.