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A Ripple in Space (mander.xyz)

submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 months ago

Woah, I wonder why the one ripple is going in the one direction and the other is going in a different direction.

[-] notabot@piefed.social 3 points 4 months ago

From wikipedia:

As it orbits, it creates gravitational ripples on the edges of the Keeler gap as ring particles are attracted toward the moon and then fall back down toward the ring. The waves made by the moon in the inner edge of the gap precede it in orbit, while those on the outer edge lag behind it, due to the differences in relative orbital speed.