Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Daphnis and the Keeler Gap


Saturn's small moon Daphnis is caught in the act of raising waves on the edges of the Keeler gap, which is the thin dark band in the left half of the image. Waves like these allow scientists to locate small moons in gaps and measure their masses.

For more on Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across) and the Keeler gap, see PIA11655 and PIA06238.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 13 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on August 14, 2012.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 483,000 miles (778,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 4 degrees. Image scale is 3 miles (4 kilometers) per pixel. The F ring has been brightened by a factor of 1.5 relative to the main rings to enhance visibility.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

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