According to ancient Greek mythology, Cronus, the deity whom the Romans appropriated to give the backstory for the god Saturn, swallowed his children whole because he did not want one of them to overthrow him as king of the universe. They might pick up that idea because that's how Cronus himself got the job.
Cronus' wife Rhea hid their son Zeus, tricking the devouring dad into swallowing a rock instead. None of the ancient myths suggest Cronus was all that bright. When Zeus got older, he gave father dearest a Olympian version of ipecac, causing him to vomit up his children (and the rock), who promptly overthrew him. Another version of the story says Zeus used a sword and freed his sibs a little more messily.
But the planet Saturn seems to be operating a little differently, as recent observations show that it may be trying to create a moon at the edge of one of its rings. Whether or not the moon manages to stay a moon or disintegrates back into the rings has yet to be seen, and will depend more on the ice of which it is in the middle than on anything about the planet Saturn itself.
Which means the planet is already showing more brains than its namesake.
No comments:
Post a Comment