Edge Wave Shadows

[doublehelix]

So, I follow @CassiniSaturn on twitter, and this was just posted. I thought it was pretty cool.

Vertical ring structures created by the moon Daphnis cast dark shadows on Saturn's A ring in this image taken as the planet approached its August 2009 equinox.

Daphnis (8 kilometers, or 5 miles across) is a bright dot casting a thin shadow just in the middle right side of the image. The moon has an inclined orbit, and its gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the Keeler Gap's edges and sculpts the edges into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components.

More.

I read that Saturn's equinox occurs only once in about 15 Earth years! Amazing...

-dh

 

[MeteorWayne]

There's dozens of such images (many massaged by Andrew) in the Cassini thread in M&L. In fact, this post should probably be merged there into the existing thread

 

[3488]

Indeed.

Mind you I do not see any problem with having a dedicated thread just on this in SS&A.

Hi dh, yes the Saturn Equinoxes are just under fifteen years apart. The Kronian seasons are approx 7.5 years each & imagine have one birthday every 30 years, I would be 1.3 Kronian Years old. :shock: :shock:

Daphnis causes ripples.

Pan cast's a shadow.

I hope to put in a more regular appearance after some equipment hassles.

Andrew Brown.

 

[doublehelix]

There's dozens of such images (many massaged by Andrew) in the Cassini thread in M&L. In fact, this post should probably be merged there into the existing thread

Go for it! :mrgreen:

 

[MeteorWayne]

Actually, based on Andrew's suggestion, I think I'll cross link the two threads so anyone interested can go to the other one for more details.

Here's the Cassini thread in Missions and Launches with more images:



viewtopic.php?f=6&t=914&start=40

 

[CalliArcale]

That's a good idea!

These equinox pictures are *awesome*. We're so used to thinking of the rings as a big flat disc, and to see this much structure is startling -- and even more so because it's so confined to specific areas (where the ring material has been disrupted gravitationally). It brings the whole system to life in a way that no humans have ever seen before.