ikenbot:

Glorious B

Saturn’s B ring is spread out in all its glory in this image from Cassini. Scientists are trying to better understand the origin and nature of the various structures seen in the B ring.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Saturn’s B ring is the densest and most massive of all the rings. The C ring is also visible inside the B ring and the A ring puts on an appearance beyond the Cassini Division near the top and bottom of the image.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 7 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 22, 2012.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 201,000 miles (324,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 134 degrees. Image scale is 10 miles (16 kilometers) per pixel.

ikenbot:

Many Mini-Jets

Saturn’s F ring shows several “mini-jets” near the upper-right of this image captured by the Cassini spacecraft. The A ring also appears in the lower-left of the image.

The mini-jets are thought by scientists to be caused by low-speed collisions in the core of the F ring ejecting dusty material from the core.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 10 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 14, 2012. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 538,000 miles (867,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 10 degrees. Image scale is 3 miles (5 kilometers) per pixel.

ikenbot:

Night Side Rings

Saturn casts a wide shadow across its rings in this Cassini spacecraft view which looks toward the darkened southern hemisphere of the night side of the planet.

expose-the-light:

Zooming in on Saturn’s Rings

Credit: NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Saturn is ready for her close-up. This image, taken by the Hubble Space telescope in 2004, offers a stunning view of the planet’s rings. Saturn boasts 9 continuous main rings as well as three fragmentary arcs; they’re made mostly of ice with some dust and rock mixed in. In this image, the main body of the planet casts a dark shadow on the rings.

unknownskywalker:

Spitzer Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn –€” by far the largest of the giant planet’s many rings.

The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers. One of Saturn’s farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.

Saturn’s newest halo is thick, too –€” its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring. The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer’s infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band’s cool dust.

The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn’t reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak.

Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. By focusing on the glow of the ring’s cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find.

(via shychemist)

cwnl:

Jupiter’s Rings Revealed

(via ikenbot)

Thin Rings Around Polarized Saturn

How thin are the rings of Saturn?

Brightness measurements from different angles have shown Saturn’s rings to be about one kilometer thick, making them many times thinner, in relative proportion, than a razor blade. This thinness sometimes appears in dramatic fashion during an image taken nearly along the ring plane. Additional guest appearance by Enceladus.

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Saturn’s Ancient Rings

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA