Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to the A and F rings from this perspective.
Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across), like the ring particles, is composed primarily of ice. The gap in the A ring through which Tethys is visible is the Keeler gap, which is kept clear by the small moon Daphnis (not visible here).
This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Tethys. North on Tethys is up and rotated 43 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 14, 2014.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 22 degrees. Image scale is 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Saturn's moons create art on the canvas of Saturn's rings with gravity as their tool. Here Prometheus is seen sculpting the F ring while Daphnis (too small to discern in this image) raises waves on the edges of the Keeler gap.
Prometheus (53 miles, or 86 kilometers across) is just above image center while Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across), although too small to see in its location in the Keeler gap just to the right of center, can be located by the waves it creates on the edges of the gap. Prometheus and stars have been brightened by a factor of 2 relative to the rest of the image to enhance their visibility. There are 20 stars visible in this image.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 53 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on August 25, 2013.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 degrees. Image scale is 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
While the moon Epimetheus passes by, beyond the edge of Saturn's main rings, the tiny moon Daphnis carries on its orbit within the Keeler gap of the A ring. Although quite different in size, both moons create waves in the rings thanks to their gravitational influences.
Epimetheus (70 miles, or 113 kilometers across) is visible at the lower-right of the image, and Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across) is barely visible at one pixel wide just below-right of the image center. A close inspection of the image also reveals the waves Daphnis creates on the edges of the Keeler gap.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2.6 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2013.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 808,000 miles (1.3 million kilometers) from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 28 degrees. Image scale is 5 miles (8 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Saturn's A ring is decorated with several kinds of waves. Here the Cassini spacecraft has captured a host of density waves, a bending wave (in the upper-right corner), and the edge waves on the edge of the Keeler Gap caused by the small moon Daphnis. Daphnis itself appears as a tiny dot in the middle of the Keeler Gap.
See PIA10501 for a closer look at bending and density waves and to learn more about them. For more on the edge waves caused by Daphnis, see PIA11655.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 41 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2013.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 777,000 miles (1.3 million kilometers) from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 76 degrees. Image scale is 5 miles (8 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
The tiny wavemaker moon Daphnis is dwarfed by the very waves it creates on the edge of the Keeler gap. Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across), a tiny dot in the Keeler gap, raises waves on the edges of that gap as it passes the ring material. Daphnis' gravitational encounters also maintain the gap, shepherding material back into the ring.
The two bright dots between the A and F ring are stars. For more about Daphnis, see PIA06238.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 50 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on January 15, 2013.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 99 degrees. Image scale is 5 miles (8 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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
The Cassini spacecraft catches Saturn's moon Daphnis making waves and casting shadows from the narrow Keeler Gap of the planet's A ring in this view taken around the time of Saturn's August 2009 equinox.
Daphnis (8 kilometers, or 5 miles across) is almost invisible in this view, but the shadows cast on the wide A ring can be seen below the center of the image. The Encke Gap of the A ring, which is wider than the Keeler Gap, is on the right. Saturn's thin F ring is on the left of the view. See PIA11629 for a similar, closer view.
More than a dozen background stars are visible in this image.
Daphnis has an inclined orbit and its gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the Keeler Gap's edge and sculpts the edge into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components. Material on the inner edge of the gap orbits faster than the moon so that the waves there lead the moon in its orbit. Material on the outer edge moves slower than the moon, so waves there trail the moon. See PIA11656 to learn more about this process.
The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ringplane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn's equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Before and after equinox, Cassini's cameras have spotted not only the predictable shadows of some of Saturn's moons (see PIA11657), but also the shadows of newly revealed vertical structures in the rings themselves (see PIA11665).
This view looks toward the northern, 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 16, 2009. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 108 degrees. Image scale is 12 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Saturn's moons Daphnis and Pan demonstrate their effects on the planet's rings in this view from the Cassini spacecraft.
Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across), on the left of the image, orbits in the Keeler Gap of the A ring. The moon's gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the gap's edge and sculpts the edge into waves that move both in the ring's plane (radially) and out of the ring's plane. See PIA11655 and PIA12698 to learn more.
Pan (17 miles, or 28 kilometers across), in the top right of the image, orbits in the Encke Gap of the A ring. The effects of that moon's gravity can be seen as dark wakes on the parts of the rings below Pan in the image, propagating towards the middle of the image. See PIA07528 and PIA10529 to learn more.
This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 3, 2010. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 329,000 miles (529,000 kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 2 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Six of Saturn's moons orbiting within and beyond the planet's rings are collected in this Cassini spacecraft image.
Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles across) is the largest moon in this image and appears at the bottom. Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles across) orbits beyond the rings near the center of the image. Epimetheus (113 kilometers, or 70 miles across) orbits beyond the rings near the top of the image. Atlas (30 kilometers, or 19 miles across) appears as a tiny speck between the main rings and the thin F ring on the right. Daphnis (8 kilometers, or 5 miles across), which orbits in the narrow Keeler Gap of the A ring, appears as a small, bright speck on the left of the image. Pan (28 kilometers, or 17 miles across), which orbits in the Encke Gap of the A ring, also appears as a bright speck on the left of the image. Daphnis is farther to the left of the image than Pan.
Although Enceladus appears to be in the foreground here, that moon, at a distance of 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles), is actually farthest away from Cassini in this image. Janus is 3 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from the spacecraft. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Epimetheus.
The rings lie between Janus and Epimetheus. This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees below the ringplane.
Enceladus is a very reflective body. To enhance visibility, the other moons and the rings have been brightened by a factor of 3.4 relative to Enceladus.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on October 6, 2010. Image scale is approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel on Enceladus, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Janus and about 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Epimetheus.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The Cassini spacecraft captures here one of its closest views of Saturn's ring-embedded moon Daphnis.
This image was taken July 5, 2010, at a distance of only about 75,000 kilometers (47,000 miles) from Daphnis. Seen at the upper left of this image, Daphnis (8 kilometers, or 5 miles across) appears in the Keeler Gap near the edge waves it has created in the A ring. The moon's orbit is inclined relative to the plane of Saturn's rings. Daphnis' gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring that form the Keeler Gap's edge, and sculpts the edge into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components. Material on the inner edge of the gap orbits faster than the moon so that the waves there lead the moon in its orbit. Material on the outer edge moves slower than the moon, so waves there trail the moon. See PIA11656 to learn more about this process.
Daphnis can also be seen casting a short shadow on the A ring.
This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from about 14 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 58 degrees. Image scale is 452 meters (1,483 feet) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Rather than being an unchanging disk of peaceful particles, the material that makes up Saturn's rings is constantly pushed and pulled into spectacular shapes.
On the left of the image, the moon Daphnis (8 kilometers,or 5 miles across) affects material as it orbits in the A ring's Keeler Gap. The moon's orbit is inclined relative to the plane of Saturn's rings. Daphnis' gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles forming the Keeler Gap's edge. This sculpts the edge into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components. Material on the inner edge of the gap orbits faster than the moon so that the waves there lead the moon in its orbit. Material on the outer edge moves slower than the moon, so waves there trail the moon. See PIA11656 to learn more about this process.
On the right, the material at the edge of the Encke Gap shows waves caused by Pan (28 kilometers, or 17 miles across). See PIA09881 for a similar view.
This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 3, 2010. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 531,000 kilometers (330,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 33 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
