| Title | Saturn's Ring-Grazing Moon Daphnis Imaged Up Close | |
| Date | Saturday January 21 2017, @07:31PM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the Lordette-of-the-Rings dept. | ||
Daphnis, Saturn's tiny "wavemaker moon" which was discovered in 2005, has been imaged in relatively high resolution by the Cassini spacecraft. The image shows dust being pulled out of a nearby ring and trailing the moon:
Daphnis (5 miles or 8 kilometers across) orbits within the 42-kilometer (26-mile) wide Keeler Gap. Cassini's viewing angle causes the gap to appear narrower than it actually is, due to foreshortening. The little moon's gravity raises waves in the edges of the gap in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Cassini was able to observe the vertical structures in 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox (see PIA11654).
Like a couple of Saturn's other small ring moons, Atlas and Pan, Daphnis appears to have a narrow ridge around its equator and a fairly smooth mantle of material on its surface -- likely an accumulation of fine particles from the rings. A few craters are obvious at this resolution. An additional ridge can be seen further north that runs parallel to the equatorial band. Fine details in the rings are also on display in this image. In particular, a grainy texture is seen in several wide lanes which hints at structures where particles are clumping together. In comparison to the otherwise sharp edges of the Keeler Gap, the wave peak in the gap edge at left has a softened appearance. This is possibly due to the movement of fine ring particles being spread out into the gap following Daphnis' last close approach to that edge on a previous orbit.
Also at Ars Technica which includes some of the older images.
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printed from SoylentNews, Saturn's Ring-Grazing Moon Daphnis Imaged Up Close on 2024-04-23 16:28:58