Nothing seems to beat Saturn when it comes to fertility with the planet possibly bearing its 63rd moonchild, based on a space probe conducted by NASA through a Cassini spacecraft.
There's no complete positive identification yet, but the scientists - who's as excited as a father apparently - have already baptized the moonchild with Peggy for a nickname.
Yet, if they were to interpret the images taken by the narrow angle camera of the spacecraft, the scientists said the small icy moon might be the newest moon of Saturn, considered to be the most-fertile planet.
"The object has been detectable in Cassini images since at least May 2012 and its changing orbit shows evidence of a possible disruption in early 2013," says the study, titled The discovery and dynamical evolution of an object at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring.
The study further says the images seem to reveal the existence of "bright, extended feature at the edge of the A ring" which appeared to be detached from it.
Of the disturbances observed by Cassini, one shows an arch that is brighter than its surroundings by 20 percent, with length estimated at 750 miles or 1,200 kilometers and width at 6 miles or 10 kilometers. The scientists have also discovered unusual bulges in what is usually a smooth profile at the edge of the ring, which could be brought about by the gravitational effects of an object nearby. However, they don't expect the object to grow any bigger, and it could even be falling apart.
"We have not seen anything like this before," said study lead author Carl Murray from Queen Mary University of London.
The study, however, says Cassini's documentation of the formation of the new icy object inside Saturn's rings may also hint clues as to the earlier formation of the already known icy moons of the said planet such as the Titan and Enceladus. It may also provide an understanding as to formation of the Earth and the other planets in the solar system and their migration away from the Sun.
"Continual monitoring of this object and its neighbourhood will provide a unique insight into the processes that govern object formation and orbital evolution in a self-gravitating disk," the study concludes.
The study, published by Icarus Journal, has been made available online on March 28, 2014. Other study authors were Nicholas J. Cooper, Jeffrey S. Boyer, Gareth A. Williams and Nicholas O. Attree.
The space probe of Cassini-Huygens is a mutual project of NASA, Italian Space Agency and European Space Agency.
