Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 19, 2014

NASA CASSINI IMAGES MAY REVEAL NEW SATURN MOON 
THE WORLD AROUND USMountain Views-News Saturday, April 19, 2014 B2 
NASA CASSINI IMAGES MAY REVEAL NEW SATURN MOON 
THE WORLD AROUND USMountain Views-News Saturday, April 19, 2014 B2 
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the 
rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of the 
planet’s known moons.

 Images taken with Cassini’s narrow angle camera on April 15, 2013, show disturbances at 
the very edge of Saturn’s A ring—the outermost of the planet’s large, bright rings. One of these 
disturbances is an arc about 20 percent brighter than its surroundings, 750 miles long and 6 
miles wide. Scientists also found unusual protuberances in the usually smooth profile at the 
ring’s edge. Scientists believe the arc and protuberances are caused by the gravitational effects 
of a nearby object. Details of the observations were published online today by the journal 
Icarus [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.024]. 

The object is not expected to grow any larger, and may even be falling apart. But the process 
of its formation and outward movement aids in our understanding of how Saturn’s icy moons,
including the cloud-wrapped Titan and ocean-holding Enceladus, may have formed in more 
massive rings long ago. It also provides insight into how Earth and other planets in our solar 
system may have formed and migrated away from our star, the Sun.

 “We have not seen anything like this before,” said Carl Murray of Queen Mary University 
of London, the report’s lead author. “We may be looking at the act of birth, where this object 
is just leaving the rings and heading off to be a moon in its own right.”

 The object, informally named Peggy, is too small to see in images so far. Scientists estimate 
it is probably no more than about a half mile in diameter. Saturn’s icy moons range in size 
depending on their proximity to the planet—the farther from the planet, the larger. And many 
of Saturn’s moons are comprised primarily of ice, as are the particles that form Saturn’s rings.
Based on these facts, and other indicators, researchers recently proposed that the icy moons 
formed from ring particles and then moved outward, away from the planet, merging with 
other moons on the way.

 “Witnessing the possible birth of a tiny moon is an exciting, unexpected event,” said Cassini 
Project Scientist Linda Spilker, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. 
According to Spilker, Cassini’s orbit will move closer to the outer edge of the A ring in late 
2016 and provide an opportunity to study Peggy in more detail and perhaps even image it. 

WRITE A LUNAR ECLIPSE POEM AND WIN A PRIZE! 

Were you excited to see the lunar eclipse on the night of April 14-15? Enough to write a 
poem about it? Why not try one, and email it to the Astronomers Without Borders (AWB)
AstroPoetry Contest? This international astronomy-outreach organization is presenting the 
contest as a feature of Global Astronomy Month, April 2014. 

The contest has separate divisions for children grades 1-6, young adults grades 7-12, and 
adults. For contest rules and the entry form, see: http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/
gam2014-programs/program-schedule-2014.html?id=1467 

In addition to the contest, you can also send your poem to the AWB AstroPoetry Blog, 
where we post poems daily. Your blog poem can also include a picture, if you have one. See 
the blog at: http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/blog/astropoetry-blog.html

 Send your poem (and picture if you have one) for the blog to: 

astropoetry@astronomerswithoutborders.org 

UNHURT BY SHADOW 
How bright the full moon
Coming out of her eclipse
Unhurt by shadow. 


This image is a portion of an observation recorded by the narrow-angle camera of Cassini's imaging 
science subsystem on April 15, 2013. The bright feature at the edge of the A ring is about 750 miles 
(about 1,200 kilometers) long. 

Poem from the book “First Star I See Tonight: A Celebration of Wonder,” copyright 2007 by Robert L. 
Eklund. Book available from Xlibris.com or Amazon.com.

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com. 


In Celebration of EarthDayEarth Day 
The City Of Sierra Madre's EENRC 
PRESENTS: 
W ith Spec ial Film Maker, 
G uest Speaker : George LangworthyGeorge Langworthy 
Sunday April 27, 2014 8 pm 
Sierra Madre 
City Council Chambers 
YOUR AD COULD BE HERE!
Call Patricia at 626-818-2698 Today!
I have many fond 

memories of 17 years 

with my purebred pit 

bull, Cassius Clay, 

who died one Easter 

Sunday. I remember 
the end of his life the most right now. I thought 
that I was taking care of Cassie and helping and 
saving him – I had to carry him in and out, and 
was always concerned about his welfare. In the 
end, I realize that Cassie was helping and saving 
me. He instilled in me a sense of responsibility 
and caring that maybe I never had before.
When I walked today, I missed Cassie so much, 
and I thought about his role in my life. I thought 
about how I tried to see his dog pictures of the 
world, how he processes the many smells that 
he takes so long each day to smell. When I 
attempted to go into his mind, like Beatrice 
Lydecker described in her What the Animals 
Tell Me book, I “saw” a colorful, very dynamic 
image of flowing geometric shapes that all 
moved like the wind in varying patterns, in a 
three-dimensional complexity. To me, it was 
the complexity of odors that meant so much to 
Cassie, and very little to me. 
Shortly after he died, I asked him to show me 
his picture, and I “saw” in front of my his bigface licking mine. He was telling me that he was 
happy, in peace, no pain and that I was OK.
As I walked this morning, I thought about 
Easter Day when Cassie died. Though he had 
had trouble walking for weeks, he seemed OK 
in the morning. When I came home in the early 

CASSIE’S GIFT 

By Christoper Nyerges 

[Nyerges is the author of numerous books, including “Til Death Do us 
Part?” (on Kindle), “How to Survive Anywhere,” etc. He can be reached at 
www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041. 
He regularly participates in seminars on death and metaphysical topics. 
For details, go to www.wtinc.info.] 

evening, it was dark and Cassie was warm but I 
could not rouse him from his house, and when I 
pulled him out, I knew it was over, even though 
I tried to bring him back. There was no music, 
no singing of birds, just the quiet of the night 
and the final sounds of his dying body. 
As I walked this morning, I realized that Cassie’s 
gift was his unconditional love. And now that 
he was gone, I tried to sort out the meaning of 
that love. I have heard it said that Eternal Life 
is synonymous with Eternal Love. That Eternal 
Love is also impersonal. It is universal loving 
without concern for prejudice or opinion or 
preferences. It is doing what is right, and not 
being concerned about my group, or my party, 
or my race, or my gender, or my family. It is 
finding those ways of thinking, and of living, 
that exemplify the Golden Rule, and Jesus’ 
command to “Love ye one another as your self.” 
Which means we must love our spiritual self, 
and see that every single one of us is the same. 

Cassie taught me to be a better person. He taught 
me to see that only through impersonal love 
can we ever find real meaning and harmony. 
Of course, I feel a personal love for Cassie, 
and for other close people in my life. But now 
again, Cassie has made me realize that death is 
inevitable, and personal love is full of pain and 
heartache and disappointment. Impersonal 
loving is not focused exclusively towards one 
person or animal but is a way of thinking about 
all life, including all animals. This was Cassie’s 
gift to me.