Enceladus Creates Saturns E Ring
Explanation:
The active moon Enceladus appears to be making Saturn's E ring.
An
amazing picture
showing the moon at work was taken late last year by the Saturn-orbiting
Cassini spacecraft and is
shown above.
Enceladus
is the bright point near the center, right near the center of
Saturn's E ring.
Streams of ice and water vapor can be seen
pouring off Enceladus into the E ring.
The above bright image of the normally faint
E-ring was made possible by aligning Cassini so that
Saturn blocked the Sun.
From that perspective, small ring particles reflect incoming
sunlight more efficiently.
Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn for almost three years, and is
scheduled to swoop by the unexpectedly
cryovolcanic
Enceladus at least several more times.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
