Galerie de photos des anneaux de la planète Saturne

PIA06239_modest.jpg
PIA06239_modest.jpg
<h1>PIA06422: Pretty in Pink</h1><div class="PIA06422" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Saturn and its rings are prominently shown in this color image, along with three of Saturn's smaller moons. From left to right, they are Prometheus, Pandora and Janus.</p><p>Prometheus and Pandora are often called the "F ring shepherds" as they control and interact with Saturn's interesting F ring, seen between them.</p><p>This image was taken on June 18, 2004, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera 8.2 million kilometers (5.1 million miles) from Saturn. It was created using the red, green, and blue filters. Contrast has been enhanced to aid visibility.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06422" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06422: Pretty in Pink sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06422: Pretty in Pink sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06422: Pretty in Pink
<h1>PIA06424: Golden Rings</h1><div class="PIA06424" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Saturn's rings appear golden as the planet's shadow drapes across nearly the whole span of the rings. In the upper left corner is Saturn's moon Mimas. </p><p>This color image was taken on August 15, 2004, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera, using the red, green, and blue filters. The image was taken 8.8 million kilometers (5.5 million miles) from Saturn. Contrast has been enhanced to aid visibility.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06424" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06424: Golden Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06424: Golden Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06424: Golden Rings
<h1>PIA06485: Musical Rings</h1><div class="PIA06485" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Looking something like the fibrous bow of a violin, Saturn's colorful rings sweep through this spectacular natural color view while two small moons look on.</p><p>From left, the moons visible here are Janus (181 kilometers, or 112 miles across) and Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across). Cassini's view in this image is from beneath the ring plane; the moons are on the far side of Saturn. Janus leads Mimas as the two moons orbit the planet.</p><p>Nearly the entire ring system can be seen in this view. The diaphanous C ring appears at the upper right, followed by the multi-hued B ring. Next, the famous Cassini division (4,800 kilometers, or 2,980 miles wide) separates the A and B rings. The outer edge of the B ring which forms the inner boundary of the Cassini division is maintained by a gravitational resonance with Mimas. Near the outer edge of the A ring are the Encke Gap (325 kilometers, or 202 miles wide) and the barely visible Keeler Gap (35 kilometers, or 22 miles wide). The faint, thread-like F ring is discernible just beyond the main rings.</p><p>The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on August 27, 2004, at a distance of 9.1 million kilometers (5.6 million miles) from Saturn. Images taken with red, green and blue filters were combined to create this color view. The moons have been enhanced in brightness to increase their visibility. The image scale is 54 kilometers (34 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06485" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06485: Musical Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06485: Musical Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06485: Musical Rings
<h1>PIA06501: Moons and Gaps</h1><div class="PIA06501" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This image captures several important targets of the Cassini mission: icy moons, rings, and the gaps in the rings that may contain small undiscovered moons.</p><p>Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is easily seen near lower right. Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) is visible left of center.</p><p>The 4,800-kilometer- (2,980-mile-) wide Cassini division is the dark swath at upper left. The Encke Gap (325 kilometers, or 202 miles wide) is visible as a dark curve near the edge of the A ring. The thin F ring is seen here, exterior to the main rings.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 10, 2004, at a distance of 8.9 million kilometers (5.5 million miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft or phase, angle of 84 degrees. The image scale is 53 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel. The image was magnified by a factor of four to aid visibility. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06501" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06501: Moons and Gaps sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06501: Moons and Gaps sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06501: Moons and Gaps
<h1>PIA06522: Atlas, Pandora and Janus</h1><div class="PIA06522" lang="en" style="width:695px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Saturn hosts its own miniature solar system, with an entourage of more than 30 moons. This image shows Saturn's A and F rings, along with three of the moons that orbit close to them.</p><p>From innermost to outermost, tiny Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles, across) orbits just outside of the bright A ring and is seen above center in this view. Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles, across) is visible near lower right. Prometheus and its smaller cohort, Pandora, shepherd the thin, knotted F ring. Finally Janus (181 kilometers, or 112 miles, across) can be seen near lower left. Janus shares its orbit with the moon Epimetheus.</p><p>Density waves due to Janus cause some of the bright bands seen in the A ring in this image. Prometheus and Atlas also produce waves in the rings, but their wave regions are too narrow to be seen here. The interactions of the moons with each other and the rings are a major target of study for the Cassini mission.</p><p>The planet's shadow stretches all the way across the main rings in this view. The shadow has an oval shape at present, but over the next few years will become more rectangular as the planet orbits the Sun and the angle at which sunlight strikes the rings decreases. For an example of this from NASA's Voyager mission, see <a href="/catalog/PIA00335">http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00335</a>.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 6, 2004, at a distance of 6.4 million kilometers (4 million miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of visible red light. The image scale is 38 kilometers (24 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.<p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06522" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06522: Atlas, Pandora and Janus sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06522: Atlas, Pandora and Janus sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06522: Atlas, Pandora and Janus
<h1>PIA06529: From the Dark Side</h1><div class="PIA06529" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>As Cassini swung around to the dark side of the planet during its first close passage after orbit insertion, the intrepid spacecraft spied three ring moons whizzing around the planet.</p><p>Visible in this image are: Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) brightest and above center; Janus (181 kilometers, or 112 miles across) second brightest at upper left; and Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) just above the main rings at upper left.</p><p>The normally bright B ring appears very dark from this vantage point. Regions with smaller concentrations of particles, such as the Cassini division (bright near center) transmit more sunlight and thus are brighter.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 27, 2004, at a distance of 757,000 kilometers (470,000miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 42 kilometers (26 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06529" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06529: From the Dark Side sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06529: From the Dark Side sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06529: From the Dark Side
<h1>PIA06532: Gazing Down</h1><div class="PIA06532" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Cassini pierced the ring plane and rounded Saturn on Oct. 27, 2004, capturing this view of the dark portion of the rings. A portion of the planet's atmosphere is visible here, as is its shadow on the surface of the rings.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 27, 2004, at a distance of about 618,000 kilometers (384,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 1001 nanometers. The image scale is 33 kilometers (21 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06532" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06532: Gazing Down sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06532: Gazing Down sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06532: Gazing Down
<h1>PIA06533: Night Side Ringplane</h1><div class="PIA06533" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>The usually bright B ring (at center) appears very dim in this view of the rings taken on the side of the rings that is not illuminated. The scene resembles a photographic negative, with bright and dark areas reversed (although in some places in the rings, the blackness of space is seen.) From this viewing angle, the rings are lit from below: both dense and empty regions are dark, and regions of intermediate particle density are bright. </p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 27, 2004, at a distance of about 631,000 kilometers (392,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of visible violet light. The image scale is 34 kilometers (21 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06533" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06533: Night Side Ringplane sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06533: Night Side Ringplane sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06533: Night Side Ringplane
<h1>PIA06534: Mind the Gap</h1><div class="PIA06534" lang="en" style="width:718px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>An intriguing knotted ringlet within the Encke Gap is the main attraction in this Cassini image. The Encke Gap is a small division near the outer edge of Saturn's rings that is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide. The tiny moon Pan (20 kilometers, or 12 miles across) orbits within the gap and maintains it. Many waves produced by orbiting moons are visible.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 807,000 kilometers (501,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06534" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06534: Mind the Gap sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06534: Mind the Gap sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06534: Mind the Gap
<h1>PIA06535: Outer B Ring Edge</h1><div class="PIA06535" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This close-up of the lit side of Saturn's outer B ring and the Cassini Division looks something like a phonograph record. There are subtle, wavelike patterns, hundreds of narrow features resembling a record's 'grooves' and a noticeable abrupt change in overall brightness beyond the dark gap near the right. To the left of the gap is the outer B ring with its sharp edge maintained by a strong gravitational resonance with the moon Mimas. To the right of the Huygens Gap are the plateau-like bands of the Cassini Division. The narrow ringlet within the gap is called the Huygens ringlet.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 819,000 (509,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06535" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06535: Outer B Ring Edge sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06535: Outer B Ring Edge sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06535: Outer B Ring Edge
<h1>PIA06536: Sweeping Beauty</h1><div class="PIA06536" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Any doubts about the grandeur of Saturn's rings will be dissolved by sweeping portraits like this one from Cassini. There is a magnificent level of detail visible in this view, which captures almost the entire ring system -- from the thin, outer F ring to faint narrow features in the D ring, interior to the C ring. Along the ringplane, differences in brightness reveal the varying concentrations of the particles that comprise the rings.</p><p>Cassini is viewing the rings from below. The portion of the rings near the top of the image is closer to the spacecraft, and the portion near the bottom is farther away.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 836,000 (519,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 742 nanometers. The image scale is 46 kilometers (29 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06536" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06536: Sweeping Beauty sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06536: Sweeping Beauty sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06536: Sweeping Beauty
<h1>PIA06537: Intricate C Ring Details</h1><div class="PIA06537" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Saturn's inner C ring spreads across the field of view, showing the characteristic plateau and wave-like structure for which it is famed. </p><p>The center of this image shows an area approximately 75,000 kilometers (46,600 miles) from Saturn. The dark gap through the middle of the frame is the Colombo gap which houses the bright, narrow, eccentric Colombo ringlet, in resonance with the moon Titan.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 842,000 (523,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.7 kilometers (2.9 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06537" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06537: Intricate C Ring Details sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06537: Intricate C Ring Details sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06537: Intricate C Ring Details
<h1>PIA06539: Outer C Ring Detail</h1><div class="PIA06539" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This view of Saturn's outer C ring shows the extreme variations in brightness, along with the subtle, large-scale wavy variations discovered 24 years ago by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. The notably dark Maxwell gap (near upper right) contains the bright, narrow and eccentric Maxwell ringlet, a Saturnian analog of the narrow Uranian epsilon ring. The gap also contains another very faint ringlet newly discovered by Cassini.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of 838,000 (521,000 miles) from Saturn. The center of this view shows an area located approximately 81,300 kilometers (50,500 miles) from the planet. The image scale is 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06539" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06539: Outer C Ring Detail sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06539: Outer C Ring Detail sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06539: Outer C Ring Detail
<h1>PIA06540: Plateaus and Gaps</h1><div class="PIA06540" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This fantastic close-up of Saturn's outer C ring shows large and sharp changes in brightness across the rings, owing to the extreme variations in ring particle concentrations at different distances from the planet. The dark gap running through the center contains the Maxwell ringlet, as well as a faint, narrow ringlet discovered in Cassini images. Another very dark region to the right of the Maxwell gap is also a narrow gap.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 836,000 kilometers (519,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06540" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06540: Plateaus and Gaps sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06540: Plateaus and Gaps sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06540: Plateaus and Gaps
<h1>PIA06543: Rippled Rings</h1><div class="PIA06543" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Variations in ring particle concentration give Saturn's brilliant rings the appearance of ripples in a pond in this close-up view. Many of the gaps and wavelike patterns elsewhere in the rings are due to the gravitational influence of Saturn's moons, but the origin of much of the structure in the B ring seen here is still unexplained.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of approximately 824,000 kilometers (512,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. The image has been slightly contrast-enhanced to aid visibility.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06543" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06543: Rippled Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06543: Rippled Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06543: Rippled Rings
<h1>PIA06563: Light and Dark Rings</h1><div class="PIA06563" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>The sunlit face of Saturn's rings shows magnificent detail in this image taken in near infrared light. Most notable is the transition in brightness toward the outer edges of the image, due to differences in composition and ring particle density. The image was obtained from Cassini's vantage point beneath the ring plane.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 12, 2004, at a distance of 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn, through a broadband filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 862 nanometers. The image scale is about 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org/">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06563" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06563: Light and Dark Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06563: Light and Dark Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06563: Light and Dark Rings
<h1>PIA06567: Rings Around the Pole</h1><div class="PIA06567" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Atmospheric features in Saturn's north polar region are revealed in spectacular detail in this Cassini image, taken in the near infrared spectral region, where methane gas is not very absorbing. The dark shadows of Saturn's rings drape across the planet, creating the illusion of atmospheric bands. Dots of bright clouds give the appearance that this is an active place.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 717,800 kilometers (446,100 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. The image scale is about 43 kilometers (27 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>. For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06567" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06567: Rings Around the Pole sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06567: Rings Around the Pole sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06567: Rings Around the Pole
<h1>PIA06573: The Giant's Shadow</h1><div class="PIA06573" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Now, in southern summer, Saturn's shadow stretches across the sunlit southern surface of its rings. Saturn's moon Janus orbits just outside of the main rings and appears below them in this scene. Janus is absolutely dwarfed by the bulk of its gigantic parent. Janus is 181 kilometers (113 miles) across.</p><p>Bands of ring material within the Cassini Division are visible here, near the outer edge of the bright B ring. The planet's night side is visible at the right. This view is from Cassini's vantage point beneath the ring plane.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Jan. 17, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (746,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 66 kilometers (41 miles) per pixel. Janus was brightened by a factor of two, and contrast in the scene was enhanced to aid visibility.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>. For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06573" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06573: The Giant's Shadow sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06573: The Giant's Shadow sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06573: The Giant's Shadow
<h1>PIA06574: Sun-striped Saturn</h1><div class="PIA06574" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>In a dazzling and dramatic portrait painted by the Sun, the long thin shadows of Saturn's rings sweep across the planet's northern latitudes. Within the shadows, bright bands represent areas where the ring material is less dense, while dark strips and wave patterns reveal areas of denser material.</p><p>The shadow darkens sharply near upper right, corresponding to the boundary of the thin C ring with the denser B ring. A wide-field, natural color view of these shadows can be seen in <a href="/catalog/PIA06164">PIA06164</a>.</p><p>The globe of Saturn's moon Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) has wandered into view near the bottom of the frame. A few of the large craters on this small moon are visible.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 18, 2005, at a distance of 1.4 million kilometers (889,000 miles) from Saturn using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The image scale is 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>. For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06574" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06574: Sun-striped Saturn sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06574: Sun-striped Saturn sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06574: Sun-striped Saturn
<h1>PIA06586: Bound to Saturn</h1><div class="PIA06586" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Saturn's complex rings are both an intriguing scientific puzzle and a supreme natural wonder. This view shows, from upper right to lower left, the thin C ring, multi-toned B ring, the dark Cassini Division, the A ring and narrow F ring.</p><p>At the bottom, Saturn's moon Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) orbits about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) beyond the bright core of the F ring. The little moon is heavily cratered and is thought to be largely composed of water ice. The bright speck just outside of (below) the F ring is the shepherd moon Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across).</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 19, 2005, at a distance of 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. Pandora was brightened by a factor of seven to aid visibility.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06586" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06586: Bound to Saturn sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06586: Bound to Saturn sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06586: Bound to Saturn
<h1>PIA06587: Irregular Pair</h1><div class="PIA06587" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>The oddball shapes of Saturn's small ring moons Prometheus and Epimetheus are discernible in the view from Cassini. Saturn's shadow carves a dark, diagonal swath across the ring plane, even occulting the outer edge of thin, knotted F ring. Prometheus is 102 kilometers, or 63 miles across, while Epimetheus is 116 kilometers, or 72 miles across.</p><p>Prometheus is visible inside the F ring near center, and Epimetheus is seen near the lower right corner. North on Saturn is to the upper right. The view is from beneath the ring plane.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 22, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 15 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06587" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06587: Irregular Pair sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06587: Irregular Pair sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06587: Irregular Pair
<h1>PIA06588: String of Moons?</h1><div class="PIA06588" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Three of Saturn's moons appear almost like a string of pearls in this Cassini image, but looks are deceiving. </p><p>Moons visible in this image: Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) at right, Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) near center and Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) in the lower left corner. Mimas' orbit inclination of 1.6 degrees relative to Saturn's equator is enough to make it appear as if it orbits just beyond the F ring when viewed from this vantage point of 5 degrees below the rings. In fact, it is 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) more distant than Janus.</p><p>Contrast in the image was enhanced to make visible the faces of moons lit by reflected light from Saturn (their left sides). Notable here is the irregular shape of Janus, compared with larger, spherical Mimas. The bright B ring (at upper left) appears overexposed due to the extreme contrast enhancement.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 22, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06588" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06588: String of Moons? sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06588: String of Moons? sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06588: String of Moons?
<h1>PIA06595: Flock of Moons</h1><div class="PIA06595" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This Cassini image captures three of Saturn's ring moons in a single view. From left to right, the moons seen in this view are Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across), Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) and Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across).</p><p>The ring moons are an interesting study in the dynamics of orbiting bodies. Prometheus and Pandora shepherd Saturn's thin F ring, whose particles orbit between the pair. Prometheus has been observed 'stealing' material from the F ring in images from Cassini. The orbit of Janus is within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the orbit of another moon, slightly smaller Epimetheus. Janus and Epimetheus exchange positions in their orbital path (inner to outer) every four years.</p><p>Saturn's bright, icy rings are overexposed in this scene. However, this has allowed us to see material present within the Cassini Division (near the lower right).</p><p>This view is from Cassini's vantage point beneath the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 29, 2005, at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 20 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p>><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06595" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06595: Flock of Moons sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06595: Flock of Moons sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06595: Flock of Moons
<h1>PIA06600: In the Moon's Wake</h1><div class="PIA06600" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Intriguing features resembling drapes and kinks are visible in this Cassini view of Saturn's thin F ring. Several distinct ringlets are present, in addition to the bright, knotted core of the ring.</p><p>The obvious structure in the ring and its strands has been caused by Prometheus, the inner F ring shepherd moon that recently swept past this region. (Prometheus is about 10 degrees ahead of the F ring material in this image). These types of features were first seen in images taken just after Cassini entered into orbit around Saturn. The gravitational interaction of Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) on the ring pulls material out the ring once every orbit (every 14.7 hours) as the moon gets close to the ring and its strands.</p><p>The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 19, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to polarized visible light. Resolution in the original image was 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The image was contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of two to aid visibility. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06600" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06600: In the Moon's Wake sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06600: In the Moon's Wake sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06600: In the Moon's Wake
<h1>PIA06636: Rings' Disappearing Act</h1><div class="PIA06636" lang="en" style="width:360px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>Cassini imaging scientists use special images like this one, which shows the far side of Saturn's rings disappearing behind the planet's outer atmosphere, to probe the vertical structure of Saturn's high altitude haze. </p><p>This image was acquired from above Saturn's ring plane, and thus shows the unlit side of the rings. From this perspective, the dark areas correspond to dense regions of the rings where little light penetrates; the brighter ring sections are less dense areas that light can pass through. Here, the bright, outer ring is the A Ring, and the gap between the two visible rings is the densest part of the B ring. The inner, somewhat fainter ring is the outer part of the C ring grading into the inner B Ring. The view is toward the night side of Saturn.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 11, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (618,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel. The image has been contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of three to aid visibility. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the Cassini imaging team home page, <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06636" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06636: Rings' Disappearing Act sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06636: Rings' Disappearing Act sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06636: Rings' Disappearing Act
<h1>PIA06709: Rings Galore</h1><div class="PIA06709" lang="en" style="width:720px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This image of the lit face of Saturn's outer, or A, ring was taken by the Cassini spacecraft shortly after crossing the ring plane after its orbit insertion burn. The image was taken with the narrow angle camera on July 1, 2004. The rings in the middle of the image are approximately 134,000 kilometers (83,200 miles) from the center of Saturn. </p><p>The bright wave pattern near the center of the image is caused by the overlap between spiral waves of varying particle density generated by Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus, which share an orbit. These two moon orbital periods are very close to each other and, at this location, affect ring particle orbits. </p><p>Cleaner spiral patterns caused by single satellites can be seen in other images; some of the weaker wave patterns in this image are also spiral patterns generated by smaller moons outside the main rings. All these spiral waves are of the same nature as the arms of spiral galaxies. The finest features which can be discerned (inwards, or to the left, of the bright wave feature in the center) are less than one mile across. Their cause is not currently known.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL.</p><p>For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06709" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06709: Rings Galore sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06709: Rings Galore sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06709: Rings Galore
<h1>PIA06994: Catching Saturn's Ring Waves</h1><div class="PIA06994" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This false color image of two density waves in Saturn's A ring was made from the stellar occultation observed by Cassini's ultraviolet imaging spectrograph when the spacecraft was 6.3 million kilometers (4 million miles) from Saturn. </p><p>Bright areas indicate the denser regions of the rings. The bright bands in the left part of the image are the "peaks" of a density wave caused by gravitational stirring of the rings by Saturn's moon, Janus. A smaller density wave in the right half of the image is produced by the moon Pandora. The ultraviolet imaging spectrograph observed the brightness of the star Xi Ceti as the rings passed in front of it, and the flickering of the starlight was converted into the ring density depicted by the image. The image represents a distance of about 724 kilometers (450 miles), and the smallest features are about one-half mile across.</p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The ultraviolet imaging spectrograph was built at, and the team is based at the University of Colorado, Boulder. </p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a> and the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph team home page, <a href="http://lasp.colorado.edu/cassini">http://lasp.colorado.edu/cassini</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06994" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA06994: Catching Saturn's Ring Waves sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA06994: Catching Saturn's Ring Waves sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA06994: Catching Saturn's Ring Waves
<h1>PIA07512: Scanning the Rings</h1><div class="PIA07512" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>This amazing close-up of Saturn's rings reveals their incredible variety. In some regions there are wavelike structures, while in other places the rings' structure appears to be more chaotic.</p><p>This image shows (from top to bottom) the A ring with the Encke gap, the Cassini Division, and the B and C rings.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 26, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 14 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07512" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA07512: Scanning the Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA07512: Scanning the Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA07512: Scanning the Rings
<h1>PIA07513: Looking Through the Rings</h1><div class="PIA07513" lang="en" style="width:800px;text-align:left;margin:auto;background-color:#000;padding:10px;max-height:150px;overflow:auto;"><p>In this fabulous close-up, Cassini peers directly through regions of the A, B and C rings (from top to bottom here) to glimpse shadows of the very same rings cast upon the planet's atmosphere. Near the top, shadows cast by ringlets in the Cassini division (center) look almost like a photo negative.</p><p>This type of image helps scientists probe the rings' structure in detail and provides information about the density of their constituent particles.</p><p>The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 26, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel. </p><p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.</p><p>For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit <a href="http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov">http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov</a>. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage <a href="http://ciclops.org">http://ciclops.org</a>.</p><br /><br /><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07513" onclick="window.open(this.href); return false;" title="Voir l'image PIA07513: Looking Through the Rings sur le site de la NASA">Voir l'image PIA07513: Looking Through the Rings sur le site de la NASA.</a></div>
PIA07513: Looking Through the Rings