BBC News October 6th … Saturn’s rings may have formed when a large moon with an icy mantle and rocky core spiralled into Saturn in a catastrophic encounter (many moons ago). The theory is an attempt to explain the mainly water ice composition of the rings, some 90 per cent or more. The rest is made of dust – from micro-meteoroids.
Meanwhile, at www.physorg.com/print205671098.html … water ice and organic molecules have been found on a second asteroid, suggesting it is a common phenomenon. It is now being suggested that asteroids struck the early Earth and brought water to our planet – which makes a change from icy comets. The asteroids concerned are found in the so called asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the findings will be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics next year.