2 min read

Multimedia: Cassini Sees Moon Building Giant Snowballs in Saturn Ring

Cassini Sees Moon Building Giant Snowballs in Saturn Ring -- Resources

While orbiting Saturn for the last six years, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has kept a close eye on the collisions and disturbances in the gas giant’s rings. They provide the only nearby natural laboratory for scientists to see the processes that must have occurred in our early solar system, as planets and moons coalesced out of disks of debris.


		Multiple F-Ring "Fans" This mosaic of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows three fan-like structures in Saturn's tenuous F ring. Such "fans" suggest the existence of additional objects in the F ring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI + Full image and caption

		F Ring's Bright Core Clumps Bright clumps of ring material and a fan-like structure appear near the core of Saturn's tenuous F ring in this mosaic of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Such features suggest the existence of additional objects in the F ring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI + Full image and caption

		"Fan" in the F Ring This mosaic of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft depicts fan-like structures in Saturn's tenuous F ring. Bright features are also visible near the core of the ring. Such features suggest the existence of additional objects in the F ring. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI + Full image and caption

		The Effect of Prometheus on the F Ring This movie features a simulation showing the changes to a portion of Saturn's F ring as the shepherding moon Prometheus swings by it. The animation uses data obtained by the imaging cameras aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute + Movie and full caption

		Catching a Cluster of Stars While NASA's Cassini spacecraft was pointed to study Saturn's F ring, it happened to catch a globular star cluster passing through the camera's field of view. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI + Movie and full caption