[Igor Antunov]

Photo:



Why so strange? Leading theory is that once it got swept up in Saturns ring system, the contents of the rings bombarded the equator of this fledgling little moon, resulting in a saucer shape.

It is here:



FASCINATING. This would make a great space station.

As you can see, thanks to the interactions between this moonlet and the rings, we now know that the rings of saturn are chiefly comprised of dust and small rocks. Nothing big. In fact in some places the rings are only 1m thick. This moonlet acquired its saucer gently, in fact it may be a ruble pile, gravity is negligible. If you 'stood' on the saucer you could probably dig your way through it with your hands.

[Potemkin]

That's not a 'moonlet', it's just a big pile of rocks.

What, are we going to count every rock in the rings of Saturn as a 'moonlet' now?

[fuser]

Its an ancient alien ship, obviously. I have read good enough sci-fi to know that.

[Frollein]

^This. I mean, this is obviously not a moon but an alien artifact. Just look at its shape!

On a more serious notion, I agree with Potemkin. Isn't there a lower limit for mass and size to call something a moon/let, beyond which debris is just debris?

[Igor Antunov]

It's a captured asteroid that became a natural moon. The asteroid itself may not be a rubble pile (may be metal rich), the saucer it acquired most certainly is.

[The Sabbaticus]

Looks like:

a. Cylon observatory.
b. ST:TNG extra-planetary organism signalling it's in heat
c. a Dr. Who toilet joke.

[Prosthetic Conscience]

That's not a 'moonlet', it's just a big pile of rocks.

What, are we going to count every rock in the rings of Saturn as a 'moonlet' now?

It's about 20km across - compared to Mars' 2 moons at 22km and 13km. It's big enough.

[Potemkin]

It's about 20km across - compared to Mars' 2 moons at 22km and 13km. It's big enough.

I don't regard Phobos as a moon at all; it's just a captured asteroid. And Deimos barely qualifies as a 'moonlet'. But meh, maybe it's just me.

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

It's either the remains of some part of the Battlestar Galactica, maybe an old abandoned Raptor that has been torn and warped after hundreds of thousands of years, or as Sabb says, a Cylon surveillance outpost.

[Saeko]

As a wise man once said: That's no moon. That's a space station.

[MistyTiger]

It just looks like a rock that got caught in the rings.

So have they gone up close and person to see what it is made of? I would like to see better pictures of it.

[Thunderhawk]

Does the plane of the bulge on Pan line up with the rings of Saturn?

[Igor Antunov]

Yes. It is all in accordance with expectations.

[NightShadows]

Why does it look so weird? the rock looks like it has the texture of really small things that you blow up on a microscopic scale.

Sometimes I feel like Ant man, and I'm expanding, shrinking and growing on two different levels at once.