Daphnis and the Rings of Saturn
Explanation:
What's happening to the rings of Saturn?
A little moon making big waves.
The moon is 8-kilometer
Daphnis
and it is making waves in the
Keeler Gap of
Saturn's rings
using just its gravity -- as it
bobs up and down, in and
out.
The featured image
is a colored and more detailed version of a
previously released
images taken in 2017 by the robotic
Cassini spacecraft during one of its Grand Finale
orbits.
Daphnis can be seen on the far right,
sporting ridges likely accumulated from ring particles.
Daphnis
was discovered in Cassini images in 2005 and
raised mounds of ring particles so high in 2009 -- during
Saturn's equinox
when the ring plane pointed directly at the Sun -- that they
cast notable shadows.
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.
