We have kittens in orbit around Saturn

[Noisy Rhysling]

Cosmic Kittens: Saturn Features Get Feline Names
By Hanneke Weitering, Space.com Staff Writer | September 25, 2017 07:00am ET

I f you know anything about Saturn, you probably know that it's a planet surrounded by rings. But did you know that it's also surrounded by cats?

NASA's Cassini spacecraft , which plunged into Saturn on Sept. 15, has discovered at least 60 "kittens" orbiting in Saturn's F ring. These features aren't actually young cats, but Cassini scientists have been naming them after kittens, mostly just for fun.

Saturn's kittens are a group of small clumps and baby moons, or moonlets, that occupy the planet's F ring. Like the rest of Saturn's rings, this thin outer ring is made up of countless particles that range in size. When enough of those particles bump into one another and stick together, they aggregate into larger clumps — and become eligible for a kitten name. [Photos: Saturn's Glorious Rings Up Close]

So far, the list of Saturn's kitten names includes several classics, like Fluffy, Garfield, Socks and Whiskers. These are unofficial nicknames for more-complicated (and less adorable) official titles like "Alpha Leonis Rev 9" (aka, Mittens).

Continues...

 

[newjerseyrunner]

That's awesome until one of them gets too big or close to Saturn, then you get headline like "Saturn rips apart kitten."

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

That's awesome until one of them gets too big or close to Saturn, then you get headline like "Saturn rips apart kitten."

OR "Kitten knocks Saturn under the sofa, then cries for it."

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Is it just me or do astronomers have more fun?