A new ring was discovered around Saturn last October with the help of the Spitzer Telescope. This new ring, called Phoebe's Ring, is the largest planetary ring now known. Phoebe's Ring begins about 6 Gigameters (3.7 million miles) away from the planet, and extends another 12Gm (7.4 million miles). This makes the ring nearly 35 times larger than the previously known ring system, and 300 times wider than Saturn!
Although Phoebe's Ring is a giant, it went undetected for many years because it is comprised mostly of fine black dust. This dust is only visible very faintly in infrared. The ring gets its name from its source: Phoebe. Phoebe is one of Saturn's farthest moons (ok, natural satellites to be correct). It is also one of the darkest objects in our solar system. Space debris hitting Phoebe creates the dust in Phoebe's ring.
Fun Fact: If Phoebe's Ring were visible in the night sky, it would appear twice as wide as the moon!
Sources:
www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002165/
www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/saturn/saturn_phoebe_ring.html
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20091006.html#
All pictures courtesy of NASA
