09 July 2008
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
NASA recently published an exquisite image of Saturn’s magnificent rings, acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. This is a detailed view of Saturn's A ring, the fourth ring in order of distance from the planet, and Saturn’s tiny moon Daphnis (8 km across), gliding in a narrow gap, known as the Keeler Gap.
Daphnis stimulates complex wave patterns in the gap edges that Cassini mission scientists are trying to explain. The A ring brightens significantly toward its outer edge, to the right of the Keeler Gap.
This view looks toward the dark side of the rings from about 32 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visual light with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera, on 31 May 2008. The spacecraft was approximately 1 million km from Saturn. Image scale is 6 km per pixel.
Further Reading
The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist