Category: Saturn

This Cassini photograph shows particles from Saturn’s F ring streaming after its moon Prometheus. Even though the moon is only 102 km (63 miles) across, its gravity has this kind of an effect on the ring particles. Astronomers are looking forward to 2009, when the moon will travel into the F ring’s core, plowing straight through the particles. Cassini took this photo on Oct.16, 2006 when it was 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Prometheus.
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Nothing but rings in this Cassini photograph. NASA’s spacecraft captured this beautiful image of Saturn’s outer B and inner A rings. The colour of the rings looks more golden now than earlier in the mission because the Cassini’s angle to the rings has changed. This view has a high phase angle, towards the unlit side of the rings. Cassini took this image on September 29, 2006 when it was approximately 1.829 million kilometers (1.137 million miles) from Saturn.
Continue reading “Saturn’s Golden Rings”

This photograph shows a swirling vortex around Saturn’s southern pole. This “hurricane” is approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) across, and has a well-developed eye ringed by clouds. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft had the perfect perspective when it took this photograph, seeing right down into the storm, and capturing the shadows cast by the surrounding clouds. This funnel of clouds allows scientists to look deeper into Saturn’s atmosphere than anywhere else on the planet.
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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.
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This beautiful view of Saturn was taken by Cassini when it was looking through the dark side of the planet’s rings. The diagonal slice through the photo is Saturn’s shadow falling across the rings. Cassini took this image on September 11, 2006 when it was approximately 1.1 million kilometres (700,000 miles) from Saturn.
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This incredible photograph shows Saturn’s potato-shaped Janus, posing above the planet’s cloudy atmosphere. Janus is only 181 kilometers (113 miles) across, and it shows the scars of many impacts with other objects in the Solar System. Like Saturn’s other smaller moons, Janus could be covered with a layer of fine, dust-sized icy material. Cassini took this photo on September 25, 2006 when it was only 145,000 kilometers (90,000 miles) from Janus.
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This Cassini image shows the dark gaps in Saturn’s A ring, which are caused by a collection of moons. Even though these moons max out at a few dozen kilometres across, they have enough gravity to pull particles out of the ring orbit as they pass by. Cassini took this photograph on September 11, 2006 from a distance of 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn.
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This Cassini photograph shows the power Saturn’s tiniest moons have over its gossamer rings. This knot in Saturn’s F ring is caused by the gravitational influence of a tiny moon… or moons. Scientists believe there could be several tiny moonlets of various sizes perturbing the rings to create these knots. Cassini took this image on Sept. 25, 2006 when it was approximately 255,000 kilometers (159,000 miles) from Saturn.
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This Cassini photograph shows a strange line of white dots in a line across the atmosphere in Saturn’s northern latitudes. The image was made using Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, and the line of dots are clearings in Saturn’s cloud system. There are more than two dozen of these clearings, spaced apart by about 3.5 degrees in longitude. Scientists think they might be caused by a large cloud formation or wave that encircles the whole planet.
Continue reading “String of Pearls in Saturn’s Atmosphere”

When Cassini passed directly behind Saturn, the Ringed Planet obscured the Sun, and gave the spacecraft a unique view of the delicate ring structure. These observations have shown scientists that the planet’s moon system is probably generating new rings. These moons are pounded by micrometeorites over time, but they don’t have the gravity to hang onto the material. Over time, this material floats away from the moons and collects into the diffuse rings we see today.
Continue reading “Saturn’s Moons Could be Creating New Rings”