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From Emily Lakdawalla's planetary blog: at next week's 39th annual meeting of the AAS Division of Planetary Sciences, this abstract states:<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Both Cassini observations and N-body simulations of Saturn’s rings point towards extensive particle clumping in Saturn’s B ring. As a result, observed optical depths are actually measuring the fractional area between these opaque clumps rather than the density of material within the clumps themselves. <b>The inferred total mass of Saturn’s ring is therefore likely to be at least three times more massive than previously estimated, or three times more massive than the satellite, Mimas.</b> </font><br /><br />Cassini is informing us, as it raises new questions. Do we need to take another look at other mass estimates, like the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt and Oort cloud?<br /><br />This week is gonna be fun, lots of new info being presented <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>