It’s no secret that Saturn is one wacky and crazy planet. But not so much in the “funny European tourist guy” type of wacky and crazy, but more in the “I’m going to kill you at midnight, and by midnight, I mean right now” type of wacky and crazy. Of course, given its symbolism in East Asian astrology as an icon of death, that’s really not too much of a stretch. Nonetheless, Saturn just got wackier-again. Now it’s got an STD-metaphorically speaking.
After years (eons (millenniums ?) ?), Saturn’s second largest moon, Rhea, may now have gained rings. If confirmed by the Cassini spacecraft, it would the first time a ring system has been found around a moon.
Now, does this mean anything pertinent to our existence? Not really, unless Saturn decides to send Rhea toward us as a whirling dervish of death and destruction. Ultimately though, this just proves that the more we learn about our own solar system, the more we realize we don’t know crap. I know people will probably disagree with me, but I for one am glad that we live in a society that’s willing to devote a lot of time and money to projects that are purely for scientific discovery without any tangible payback other than knowledge … even if most of the time, there’s no payback at all.