In, Through, and Beyond Saturn's Rings
Explanation:
Four moons are visible on the
featured image -- can you find them all?
First -- and farthest in the background -- is
Titan, the largest moon of
Saturn and one of the larger moons in the
Solar System.
The dark feature across the top of this perpetually cloudy world is the
north polar hood.
The next most obvious moon is bright
Dione,
visible in the foreground, complete with craters and long
ice cliffs.
Jutting in from the left are several of Saturn's
expansive rings,
including Saturn's A ring featuring the dark
Encke Gap.
On the far right, just outside the rings, is
Pandora,
a moon only 80-kilometers across that
helps shepherd
Saturn's F ring.
The fourth moon?
If you look closely inside Saturn's rings, in the
Encke Gap,
you will find a speck that is actually
Pan.
Although one of Saturn's smallest moons at 35-kilometers across,
Pan is massive enough to help keep the
Encke gap relatively free of ring particles.
After more than a decade of exploration and discovery, the
Cassini spacecraft ran
low on fuel in 2017 and was directed to
enter Saturn's atmosphere,
where it surely
melted.
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.
