CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., August 17, 2004
Two New Moons Found Near Saturn
Tally Of Known Moons Now Stands At 33
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Play CBS Video Video View From Saturn After a long, expensive journey, NASA's Cassini spacecraft reached the outer rings of Saturn and sent images of the ringed planet back to Earth, Jerry Bowen reports.
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Color composite image of the planet Saturn taken by NASA Cassini spacecraft. (AP/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
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Interactive Orbiting Saturn Facts about the giant ringed planet and photos from the Cassini mission.
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Photo Essay Orb of the Rings Images of Saturn beamed back to Earth by the spacecraft Cassini
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Interactive Eye On Space Explore the mysteries of our solar system, galaxy and universe, and track the struggles and triumphs of human space exploration.
Saturn's tally of known moons now stands at 33.
The images were taken by Cassini on June 1 from 10 million miles out, as it approached the ringed planet. The spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on June 30.
The two newly spotted, faint moons are about 2 miles and 2½ miles across, and 120,000 miles and 131,000 miles respectively from Saturn's center. That's considerably smaller than the moons with 12 mile diameters previously discovered in Saturn's orbit.
They are located between the orbits of moons Mimas and Enceladus, a surprise to scientists who thought such tiny satellites would have been shattered long ago in collisions with comets.
Researchers say they will be on the lookout for even more Saturn moons, and will seek close-ups of the ones just found.
"Hopefully, we haven't seen the last of them," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini's imaging team leader in Boulder, Colo.
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