Rings of Saturn

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(en) Rings of Saturn

Full[edit]

The full set of main rings, imaged as Saturn eclipsed the sun from the vantage of the Cassini spacecraft on September 15, 2006 (brightness is exaggerated). The "pale blue dot" at the 10 o'clock position, outside the main rings and just inside the G Ring, is Earth.
The dark Cassini Division separates the wide inner B Ring and outer A Ring in this image from the HST's ACS (March 22, 2004). The less prominent C Ring is just inside the B Ring.
Cassini mosaic of Saturn's rings on August 12, 2009, a day after equinox. With the rings pointed at the sun, illumination is from light reflected off Saturn, except on thicker or out-of-plane sections, like the F Ring.
views from Earth at successive oppositions

Historical[edit]

Galileo Galilei's sketches in 1610 and 1616
Systema Saturnium, 1659; Huygens' explanation for the aspects of Saturn
Robert Hooke noted the shadows (a and b) cast by both the globe and the rings on each other in this 1666 drawing of Saturn.
Christiaan Huygens sketched the gap later to be named the Cassini Division, 1676
space probe Voyager 2 returned this image in 1981

Simulated views[edit]

A simulated image using color to present radio occultation-derived information on ring particle sizes.

Subdivisions[edit]

The illuminated side of Saturn's rings with the major subdivisions labeled
Map of main divisions and some shepherd moons

Natural-color mosaic of Cassini narrow-angle camera images of the unilluminated side of Saturn's D, C, B, A and F rings (left to right) taken on May 9, 2007.

A Ring[edit]

Oblique (4 degree angle) Cassini images of Saturn's C, B, and A rings (left to right; the F ring is faintly visible in the full size upper image if viewed at sufficient brightness). Upper image: natural color mosaic of Cassini narrow-angle camera photos of the illuminated side of the rings taken on December 12, 2004. Lower image: simulated view constructed from a radio occultation observation conducted on May 3, 2005. Color in the lower image is used to represent information about ring particle sizes.

Keeler Gap[edit]

Waves in the Keeler gap edges induced by the passage of Daphnis.
Near Saturn's equinox, Daphnis and its waves cast shadows on the A Ring.

Encke Gap[edit]

The central ringlet of the A ring's Encke Gap coincides with Pan’s orbit, implying its particles oscillate in horseshoe orbits.

Cassini Division[edit]

The Cassini Division imaged from the Cassini spacecraft. The Huygens Gap lies at its right border; the Laplace Gap is towards the center. A number of other, narrower gaps are also present.

Huygens Gap[edit]

B Ring[edit]

Maxwell Gap[edit]

C Ring[edit]

Colombo Gap[edit]

D Ring[edit]

A Cassini image of Saturn's D ring processed to show faint ripples within it; the much brighter C ring appears in the upper left.

Spokes[edit]

Dark spokes mark the B ring's sunlit side in low phase angle Cassini images. This is a low bitrate video. Full size video with high bitrate of 471kbit/s;
GIF version (400 × 400 pixels, file size: 2.21 MB)

Moonlets[edit]

Location of the first four moonlets detected in the A ring.

Roche Division[edit]

The Roche Division (passing through image center) between the A Ring and the narrow F Ring. Atlas can be seen within it. The Encke and Keeler gaps are also visible.

F Ring[edit]

Shepherd moon Prometheus stabilises the F-Ring

The shepherd moons Pandora (left) and Prometheus (right) orbit on either side of the F ring; Prometheus is followed by dark channels that it has carved into the inner strands of the ring.

A mosaic of 107 images showing 255° (about 70%) of the F Ring as it would appear if straightened out. The radial width (top to bottom) is 1,500 km.

Outer rings[edit]

The outer rings seen back-illuminated by the Sun

G Ring[edit]

Methone Ring Arc[edit]

Anthe Ring Arc[edit]

The Anthe Ring Arc. The bright spot is Anthe.

Pallene Ring[edit]

E Ring[edit]

The backlit E ring, with Enceladus silhouetted against it. The moon's south polar jets erupt brightly below it.

Phoebe ring[edit]

The Phoebe ring's huge extent dwarfs the main rings. Inset: 24 micron Spitzer image of part of the ring.

Other[edit]

Cassini image mosaic of the unlit side of the inner B Ring (top) and outer C Ring (bottom) near Saturn's equinox, showing multiple views of the shadow of Mimas. The shadow is attenuated by the denser B ring. The Maxwell Gap is below center.

Dark B Ring spokes in a low-phase-angle Cassini image of the rings' unlit side. Left of center, two dark gaps (the larger being the Huygens Gap) and the bright (from this viewing geometry) ringlets to their left comprise the Cassini Division.

Cassini image of the sun-lit side of the rings taken in 2009 at a phase angle of 144°, with bright B Ring spokes.

Pan's motion through the A Ring's Encke Gap induces edge waves and (non-self-propagating) spiraling wakes ahead of and inward of it. The other more tightly wound bands are spiral density waves.

Close-up view of Prometheus and the F Ring. A movie of Prometheus at its apoapsis drawing a streamer of material out of the ring, leaving a dark channel, may be viewed here or here.

Prometheus (at center) and Pandora are the inner and outer F Ring shepherds.

F ring dynamism, probably due to perturbing effects of small moonlets orbiting close to or through the ring's core.

Saturn's shadow truncates the backlit G Ring and its bright inner arc. A movie showing the arc's orbital motion may be viewed here or here.