[It was either that title or "E-ring in the New Year".]
Here’s an unusual shot from the Cassini spacecraft: Saturn’s faint, diffuse E ring, seen almost edge-on:
I like this picture! First, we’re used to seeing Saturn’s rings looking sharp and well-defined, but this ring is fuzzy. It’s huge; it doesn’t even start until well outside the main rings, about 130,000 km (78,000 miles) above Saturn’s cloud tops, and is 300,000 km (180,000 miles) across! It’s thought that the ice particles in the ring are supplied by geysers from the moon Enceladus.
Second, we’re also used to seeing pictures of Saturn sitting in inky darkness. Saturn, its rings, and most of its moons are very bright, far brighter than the background stars. Exposing the images correctly for Saturn means the stars don’t show up, so the background is black (though not always, as this nice shot of the Pleaides from Cassini attests). But the E-ring is so faint that a longer exposure was needed, and then the fainter stars show up in multitudes.
This image was taken when Cassini was 2.5 million km (1.5 million miles) from Saturn, which was far enough to fit in a good amount of the edge of the ring. I really love all the images Cassini takes, but it’s the more unusual ones I really enjoy. Here’s hoping we see lots more in 2010!
Related Post: Cassini Dances with Enceladus Once Again.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
December 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
That is cool, and this time with stars. Are you SURE that NASA didn’t photoshop this one?
December 26th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I can’t really believe NASA would Photoshop the E ring.
Next question: if the ice in this ring is being supplied by the geysers on Enceladus, does that mean that Enceladus will slowly disappear over time?
December 26th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Fab’!
December 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I have been rotating the Cassini shots as my desktop. Thanks for point out this really cool shot.
December 26th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Wait a sec. That’s no ring, that’s a freeze frame of a Death Star superlaser blast. Where, exactly, is Mimas, NASA?!
December 26th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Thats not saturn, its Kaitain, home of Emperor Shaddam IV
December 26th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
^ Doesn’t Saturn deserve a capital ‘S’ too Rick?
Nice picture – thought it was an edge on spiral at first.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:43 am
[...] Saturnus heeft een uitgebreid ringenstelsel, waarvan de zogenaamde E-ring de breedste van allemaal is. Maar hij is ook de minst heldere ring, vandaar dat ‘ie ook pas in 1967 werd ontdekt. De binnenradius van de E-ring ligt 180.000 km van Saturnus vandaan, de buitenradius 480.000 km. De E-ring is dus 300.000 km breed! De ring is een erg diffuse ring, niet zo scherp als de andere ringen van Saturnus, en dat kan je ook wel aan bovenstaande foto zien. Cassini nam die foto op 23 oktober 2009 van 2,5 miljoen km afstand en hij moest lang belichten om de lichtzwakke E-ring erop te krijgen. Dat leverde als voordeel op dat naast de E-ring ook talloze sterren zichtbaar zijn. Normaal zie je geen sterren op foto’s met Saturnus en/of diens ringen erop, omdat kort moet worden belicht. Kortom, een bijzondere foto van een bijzondere ring. Het is vermoedelijk de maan Enceladus met z’n geisers die het materiaal levert voor de E-ring. Bron: Bad Astronomy. [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Just as well there is no sound in space, or we may have to get Cassini’s E-ring tested!
July 27th, 2011 at 12:59 am
[...] Most of it goes into space and is gone forever. Some actually forms a ring around Saturn called the E-ring, and some no doubt hits other moons. Generally, when a moon blasts stuff into space (like [...]