Categories: Saturn

Knots in Saturn’s Rings

An intriguing knotted ringlet within the Encke Gap is the main attraction in this Cassini image. The Encke Gap is a small division near the outer edge of Saturn’s rings that is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide. The tiny moon Pan (20 kilometers, or 12 miles across) orbits within the gap and maintains it. Many waves produced by orbiting moons are visible.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 807,000 kilometers (501,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org .

Original Source: NASA/JPL News Release

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

A Star Disappeared in Andromeda, Replaced by a Black Hole

Massive stars about eight times more massive than the Sun explode as supernovae at the…

32 mins ago

eROSITA All-Sky Survey Takes the Local Hot Bubble’s Temperature

About half a century ago, astronomers theorized that the Solar System is situated in a…

2 hours ago

An Explanation for Rogue Planets. They Were Eroded Down by Hot Stars

WST recently turned up hundreds of free-floating rogue planets in the Orion Nebula, 42 in…

6 hours ago

CODEX Coronagraph Heads to the ISS on Cargo Dragon

A new space-based telescope aims to address a key solar mystery.

7 hours ago

Flowing Martian Water was Protected by Sheets of Carbon Dioxide

Mars' ancient climate is one of our Solar System's most perplexing mysteries. The planet was…

23 hours ago

Japan Launches the First Wooden Satellite to Space

Space debris, which consists of pieces of spent rocket stages, satellites, and other objects launched…

1 day ago