Saturn’s F ring may have formed from collision of two moons

Japan Times : Encircling Saturn’s main ring system is a narrow band of icy particles called the F ring . But until now, how the ring originated and why it appears to have two tiny “shepherd” moons —Prometheus and Pandora—was not known. Ryuki Hyodo and Keiji Ohtsuki of Japan’s Kobe University have used computer simulations to show that the ring may have resulted from the collision of two small satellites near the outer edge of Saturn’s main ring. However, the satellites probably did not collide head on, but rather at an angle. According to the researchers, “Such an impact results in only partial disruption,” not total destruction, of the moons. The narrow ring of particles produced would then go on to form a new ring. Not only may that theory explain Saturn’s F ring, but it could also explain certain features in the Uranian system, says CNRS’s Aurelien Crida, who commented on the study in Nature Geoscience.