A Veil of Ice: Saturn's Translucent Rings Revealed in Cassini Image

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A Veil of Ice: Saturn's Translucent Rings Revealed in Cassini Image
Space.com
By Calla Cofield, Space.com Senior Writer |  January 9, 2018 07:15am ET



Saturn's rings dominate the foreground in this image, while the curve of the planet can be seen in the upper half.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

 

Saturn's rings reveal their translucent nature in this snapshot from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

While the majestic rings around Saturn may appear solid and opaque in some photographs — like a cosmic vinyl record — the rings are actually more like a translucent veil of ice and rock draped around the gas giant. This image from Cassini makes that translucent nature very apparent because light reflected off of Saturn's cloud tops can be seen shining through the rings.

In the image, the rings dominate the foreground; the moon Pan, which is only about 17 miles (28 kilometers) across, can be seen orbiting in the Encke Gap in the A ring. Near the top of the image, the brightly lit curve of the planet slopes downward and is still visible through the rings. The sunlight streaming through the rings creates a striped shadow on Saturn.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft's narrow-angle camera on Feb. 12, 2016. The Cassini mission ended in September 2017, when the probe was intentionally sent hurtling into Saturn, where it broke apart before sending back in-situ data from the planet's atmosphere. 


https://www.space.com/39324-saturn-rings-make-veil-of-ice.html