Daphnis and the Rings of Saturn

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 2017-02-22 · NASA (public domain)

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Daphnis and the Rings of Saturn — APOD for 2017-02-22

What's happening to the rings of Saturn? Nothing much, just a little moon making waves. The moon is 8-kilometer Daphnis and it is making waves in the Keeler Gap of Saturn 's rings using just its gravity -- as it bobs up and down , in and out. The featured image is a wide-field version of a previously released image taken last month by the robotic Cassini spacecraft during one of its new Grand Finale orbits . Daphnis can be seen on the far right, sporting ridges likely accumulated from ring particles . Daphnis was discovered in Cassini images in 2005 and raised mounds of ring particles so high in 2009 -- during Saturn's equinox when the ring plane pointed directly at the Sun -- that they cast notable shadows .

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2017-02-22 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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