Categories: Saturn

A Star Peeks Through Saturn’s Rings

This Cassini image shows a star peeking through Saturn’s rings. Scientists use these kinds of images to study the thickness and consistency of the rings. As the light from the obscured star dims and brightens, it can give researchers clues about how various features might have formed. Cassini took this image on September 26, 2006 when it was approximately 515,000 kilometers (320,000 miles) from Saturn.

These side-by-side views of a star seen through Saturn’s densely populated B ring show marked contrast between the region where spokes — the ghostly radial features periodically seen in the B ring — are produced and regions where no spokes are seen.

In the view at left, the ring displays an uneven grainy texture, with a great deal of variability in brightness along the direction of ring particle motion. In the view at right, the ring is far smoother and more uniform along the same longitudinal direction.

Ring scientists on the Cassini Imaging Team are studying images such as these to understand the processes by which spokes are created. This difference in appearance from one location to another on the ring could provide the researchers with helpful insights into the features’ formation.

The views were acquired about half an hour apart as the Cassini spacecraft looked toward the unlit side of the rings from about 33 degrees above the ringplane.

The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 26, 2006 at a distance of approximately 515,000 kilometers (320,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 102 degrees. Image scale is about 3 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org .

Original Source: NASA/JPL/SSI 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

It's Time for Sustainable Development Goal for Space

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the Sustainable Development Goals…

2 hours ago

A New Industrial Megaproject Threatens the View of the World’s Best Observatories

Astronomers have been battling threats to their clear skies on all fronts lately. One of…

10 hours ago

The Cosmos is Waiting for us to Explore. But we Should Choose our Path Wisely.

If you were Captain of the first USS Enterprise, where would you go!? Humanity is…

1 day ago

The Moon Occults Mars for North America Monday Night, Just Before Opposition 2025

Now is the best time to observe Mars in 2025. Mars from 2014. Credit: Paul…

1 day ago

Roman’s Telescope and Instruments are Joined

Scheduled for launch in 2027, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is slowly being readied for…

1 day ago

SLS Could Launch A Titan Balloon Mission

Few places in the solar system are better suited to a balloon than Titan. The…

2 days ago