NASA telescope discovers giant ring around Saturn

PASADENA, California (AP) - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet Saturn.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Tuesday that the ring lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system and its orbit is tilted 27 degrees from the planet's main ring plane. The ring is made of a thin array of ice and dust particles. JPL spokeswoman Whitney Clavin says the ring is very diffuse and doesn't reflect much visible light but the infrared Spitzer telescope was able to detect it.

The biggest but never-before-seen ring around Saturn, spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The inset shows an enlarged image of Saturn, as seen by the W.M. Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, in infrared light.

Although the ring dust is very cold - minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit - it shines with thermal radiation. The bulk of the ring material starts about 3.7 million miles (5.95 million kilometers) from the planet and extends outward about another 7.4 million miles (11.9 million kilometers).