Narrator: 2016.
NASA's CASSINI SPACECRAFT
IS 12 YEARS INTO ITS MISSION
TO STUDY SATURN,
THE SECOND LARGEST PLANET
IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
ON APRIL 8, CASSINI IS TASKED
WITH IMAGING
THE PLANET'S OUTER RING,
A BAND OF ICY DEBRIS KNOWN
AS THE "F" RING.
Aguilar: THE "F" RING IS A THIN,
LITTLE RING
THAT ALMOST LOOKS
LIKE BRAIDED WIRE
THAT GOES AROUND THE BIG,
MAJOR, FAT RINGS OF SATURN.
MATERIAL IN THE "F" RING
IS SO FINE
THAT IT'S ALMOST
LIKE FROZEN SMOKE.
Narrator:
WHEN THE CASSINI TEAM
AT NASA's JET PROPULSION
LABORATORY
STUDIED THE IMAGES,
THEY DISCOVER
SOMETHING UNEXPECTED.
IT'S LIKE SOMETHING
JUST PUNCHED CLEAN THROUGH
AND LEFT A HOLE BEHIND.
IT LOOKS REALLY WEIRD.
IT LOOKS LIKE MAYBE
THERE'S BEEN AN EXPLOSION
IN THE "F" RING.
IN THESE IMAGES,
PART OF THE MATERIAL
THAT'S BEING PULLED OUT
FROM THE RINGS
LOOKS LIKE IT'S POINTING
TOWARD PANDORA,
SO IT MIGHT BE PANDORA
BEING MISCHIEVOUS
AND CAUSING THIS DISTURBANCE.
Narrator: THE IMAGES SEEM TO
PROVIDE STRONG EVIDENCE
THAT PANDORA'S
GRAVITATIONAL PULL
HAS DRAGGED MATERIAL
OUT OF THE "F" RING,
BUT SCIENTISTS CALCULATE
THAT THE 70-MILE-LONG MOON
COULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE MASSIVE DISTURBANCE.
Baines:
WHEN WE LOOK AT THE MATH,
WE FIND OUT THAT PANDORA
WAS JUST TOO SMALL.
ITS GRAVITY IS JUST
NOT BIG ENOUGH
TO CAUSE THIS KIND
OF INTERRUPTION,
SO HERE, IT SEEMS TO BE
JUST AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER.
IT'S ACTUALLY OFF THE HOOK.
Narrator: THE CASSINI IMAGES
PROVIDE NO FURTHER CLUES
TO THE ORIGIN
OF THE GIANT CHASM.
IT SEEMS A MYSTERY OBJECT
TRAVELED THROUGH THIS REGION
OF SPACE
AND THEN DISAPPEARED.
WHATEVER CAUSED THIS
SIMPLY ISN'T CAPTURED ON CAMERA.
IT'S GONE BEFORE
CASSINI CAN SPOT IT.
SOMETHING BIG, REALLY BIG,
CREATED THIS HOLE,
BUT WE CAN'T FIND IT.
