Prometheus Rising Through Saturns F Ring
Explanation:
What is that dark streak below Prometheus?
Although it may look like a shadow or a trail blazed by sweeping up material,
computer simulations indicate that the dark streak is better understood as an
empty path pulled away by the gravity of Saturn's small moon.
The particles don't follow
Prometheus so much as glide sideways past where Prometheus used to be.
One dark streamer
is created during each pass of Prometheus through the
F-ring that it
shepherds.
The
streamers were
unpredicted and first discovered in 2004 on high resolution
images taken by the robotic
Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn.
Close inspection of the surface of Prometheus itself in the
above image shows interesting
structure and craters.
The
Cassini spacecraft
arrived
at Saturn in 2004 and, as it continues to function well, is now
expected to continue to send back data and images from the distant ringed world
until 2017.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
