NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been surveying the Saturnian system for some months now. The spacecraft has already sent delightful pictures of Saturn and its moons, discovered new moons, confirmed several conjectures about Saturn, and opened up new mysteries. Currently, the craft is taking pictures of the majestic rings of Saturn, and in a spectacular way, it has discovered a new moon hidden in a gap in the planet's outer A ring :). The moon, previously conjectured and named as S/2005 S1, was first seen in a series of time-lapse sequence of images earlier this month.

Lunar Waves (Courtesy: JPL)The gravitational forces of the moon causes tiny ripples in the neighboring rings, as can be seen in the above image. The moon clears a path through the Keeler gap, which is located about 250 kilometers inside the outer edge of the A ring. The moon is about 7 kilometers across and reflects about half the light falling on it.
The wave pattern will allow scientists to determine the mass and orbital information of the moon, and the material that the rings themselves are composed of. It will also allow scientists to see how the other moons are perhaps affecting the orbit of this moon. But studying all this, the scientists will also be able to learn how our solar system might have evolved out of an ancient nebula, some 4.6 Billion years ago. And of course, a new moon is always a cause for celebration :):).