New FEMTO-MOON sighted BIRTHING from Saturn's RING

Boffins peering at images sent home by NASA's Cassini spacecraft think they may have spotted the first throes of a new moon coming into being. Dubbed “Peggy”, the moonlet is probably a lump of ice. But astroboffin Carl Murray from Queen Mary University of London, lead author of a paper to be published in the journal Icarus, …

[Destroy All Monsters]

It hasn't even begun.

something is on the move

I predicted this would happen!

After "Chelyabinsk out of nowhere" and "Moon Impact on 9/11", the heavenly signs are quickening.

[Montreal Sean]

That's no moon.

I'll get my coat.

[Mark 85]

Not a moon...

Not inanimate. IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Run for the hills!!!!!!!!!!

Oh wait... how do you hide from something coming to kill the planet? Dear me, wait till this hits a popular press and all the survivalists and conspiracy believers.

[Euripides Pants]

Re: Not a moon...

Don't worry, its just a tumor. May even be benign....

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

DON'T PANIC

How do you switch on large, friendly letters?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: DON'T PANIC

Use Comic Sans at 72pt?

[Crisp]

Re: DON'T PANIC

No one likes Comic Sans.

[stucs201]

Baby Elephants!

Looks like it took them longer than expected to get Message Bearer refuellled.

[Anonymous Coward]

During victorian times, it would have already been declared British territory, and had a feather hatted governor installed. These days, perhaps Mr Putin will be already planning to protect it's indiginous russian population.

[Mpeler]

What happened to Peg?

I teleported home one night with Ron and Sid and Peg,

Ron stole Peggie's heart away, and I got Sidney's leg."

(so we now know where the rest of Peg is :) )

(was she cold-hearted?)

(with apologies to Douglas Adams)

Paris, well, she probably has a lot of rings too....

[Cubical Drone]

Re: What happened to Peg?

"Paris, well, she probably has a lot of rings too...."

Yeah, but we would have to cut her in half to find out how many.

[The last doughnut]

Orbital mechanics

Ok so start with a large cloud of matter rotating around a gravitational body such as a planet. After a while it tends to settle into a broad disc under the effects of its mutual gravity. Gradually the disc starts to form rings with distinct gaps between them, with small moonlets orbiting at both edges of each ring (what we see here). Eventually the moonlets gather up all of the ring material. What we are left with is a system of moons around the planet.

The Saturn system just has a lot of stuff that hasn't settled into moons yet.

Seems obvious to me?