Explanation: Yesterday, Cassini became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the gas giant Saturn, rocketing through a 25,000 kilometer wide gap in the distant planet's magnificent system of icy rings at about 15 kilometers per second. Turning to snap pictures, Cassini's narrow angle camera recorded this stunning close-up of a much smaller gap in the rings, the Encke Gap. A mere 300 kilometers wide, the Encke Gap is flanked by amazing structures within the rings -- scalloped edges and patterns of density waves are clear in the sharp image. While the rings of Saturn are likely debris from the breakup of fair-sized icy moon, the Encke Gap itself is created by the repeated passage of a tiny moon. Only 20 kilometers wide that tiny moon, Pan, was also detected by Cassini's camera as the spacecraft approached the Saturnian system.

<<  Iyul'  >> Pn Vt Sr Cht Pt Sb Vs       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31   1995   1996   1997 1998   1999   2000 2001   2002   2003 2004   2005   2006 2007   2008   2009 2010   2011   2012 2013   2014   2015 2016   2017   2018 2019   2020   2021 2022   2023   2024

Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr'

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.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Saturn - rings - Encke gap - cassini spacecraft - Moon - Saturn - sputniki planet - kol'ca Saturna - shel' Enke - KA Kassini Publikacii so slovami: Saturn - rings - Encke gap - cassini spacecraft - Moon - Saturn - sputniki planet - kol'ca Saturna - shel' Enke - KA Kassini
Sm. takzhe: Zahod Zemli s "Oriona" Saturn noch'yu Naidite cheloveka na Lune "Muna Liza" Luna v poslednei chetverti i zvezdy-sestry Luna, pohozhaya na Saturn Yuzhnyi lunnyi peizazh Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>