Quote:
On 2001-12-02 14:37, Kaptain K wrote:
You can't orbit "above" the rings. The plane of any orbit must contain the center of mass of the body being orbited.
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Not 100% true. I remember seeing a photo once of a "halo ring" around the north pole of Saturn (or maybe Jupiter, I forget which). I can't seem to find it on the web now, so maybe it was just a simulated photo, because this page talks about the theoretical side of it, and it doesn't say anything about having detected them yet.
http://www.nature.com/nsu/000420/000420-9.html
Admittedly though, these are only very light particles, and are only orbiting in such a strange way because the gravitational forces are balanced by magnetic fields. But it
is an off-center orbit. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Also, I suppose it would be possible to artificially maintain a trajectory just above a ring plane. I don't doubt it would be a nightmare to hold, however.