Astronomers have found evidence that a comet or asteroid might have recently collided with Saturn’s rings. New images from Cassini show a region of Saturn’s D ring that seems to have a series of smaller ringlets outside it. This structure was originally discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope more than 10 years ago, but spacing between the ringlets has decreased by half since then; from 60 km down to 30 km.
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Aldebaran Slips Behind the Rings
In this Cassini image, the bright giant red star Aldebaran slips behind Saturn’s rings. This kind of view is known as a stellar occultation, and it gives scientists an opportunity to study the rings themselves by how the block and distort light from the star. The star’s light fluctuates as it passes behind various regions of the rings, providing details on ring thickness and composition.
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Saturn’s Clouds in Silhouette
This false-colour mosaic of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in February, 2006. The strange red colour is the glow of thermal radiation from inside Saturn’s warm interior, which is visible on the night-side of the planet. The northern hemisphere is brighter because the atmosphere is relatively clear – this reveals the turbulent lower clouds. Cassini took this image when it was 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Saturn.
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Folds on the Surface of Enceladus
This Cassini photograph shows the southern polar region of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This is the region of the moon that is known to be geologically active, spraying water ice into orbit around Saturn. It has deep folds and ridges, clearly visible at the top of the image. Cassini took this image on September 9, 2006 when it was approximately 66,000 kilometers (41,000 miles) from Enceladus.
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Twin Lakes on Titan
This incredible photograph taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows two lakes on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan, attached by a thin channel. The image was taken during Cassini’s most recent flyby, when it passed by on September 23, 2006. On Earth, they’d be filled with water, but it’s just too cold on Titan; so these lakes contain a mixture of methane and ethane.
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New Ring Discovered at Saturn
Cassini recently passed behind Saturn, so that the Ringed Planet completely obscured the Sun from view. This revealed intricate details in the planet’s environment, including a brand new ring. This newly discovered ring is outside Saturn’s main rings, but inside the G and E rings – the moons Janus and Epimetheus orbit within it. During its pass behind Saturn, Cassini also captured an image of the Earth, from a vantage of nearly 1.5 billion km (930 million miles) away..
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Cloud of Ethane Discovered on Titan
When preparing for Cassini’s visit to Saturn’s moon Titan, researchers expected to see the place awash in ethane – a byproduct of the breakdown of methane. They didn’t find the lakes and oceans of ethane they were expecting, but now they have found a large cloud of ethane above Titan’s southern pole. It’s possible that this cloud rains down ethane in the summer, and then condenses around the pole in the winter, accumulating as ice.
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Rings Behind Saturn
In this Cassini photograph, Saturn’s B and C rings pass behind the Ringed Planet. Right at the point where they meet Saturn’s upper atmosphere, they appear to bend slightly. This is caused by refraction, as the light from the rings is bent as it passes through the atmosphere. Cassini took this photo on August 16, 2006 when it was 256,000 kilometers (159,000 miles) from Saturn.
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Pounded Mimas
In this Cassini photograph, Saturn’s moon Mimas reveals the battle scars it has taken over its long history in the Solar System. Its largest crater, Herschel, is visible on the right – it stretches 130 km (80 miles) across. This photo was taken on August 16, 2006 when Cassini was approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Mimas.
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Prometheus Twists Saturn’s Rings
This photograph of Saturn’s rings shows the effect of a moon’s gravity. The leftmost ring is Saturn’s F ring, which is very bright in appearance, and is constantly changing. This is because Saturn’s moon Prometheus makes its way through the ring, distorting the ice particles with its gravity. Cassini took this photo on July 26, 2006 when it was 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn.
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