Density Waves in Saturn's Rings from Cassini

What causes the patterns in Saturn's rings? The Cassini spacecraft , soon ending its 13 years orbiting Saturn , has sent back another spectacular image of Saturn's immense ring system in unprecedented detail . The physical cause for some of Saturn's ring structures is not always understood. The cause for the beautifully geometric type of ring structure shown here in ring of Saturn , however, is surely a density wave . A small moon systematically perturbing the orbits of ring particles circling Saturn at slightly different distances causes such a density wave bunching. Also visible on the lower right of the image is a bending wave , a vertical wave in ring particles also caused by the gravity of a nearby moon. Cassini's final orbits are allowing a series of novel scientific measurements and images of the Solar System's most grand ring system . Open Science: Browse 1,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library