Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Cassini-Huygens Collection
Description:
Ring Spokes
Full Description:
Voyager 2 obtained this high-resolution picture of Saturn's rings on August 22, 1981 when the spacecraft was 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) away. Evident here are the numerous "spoke" features in the B ring; their sharp, narrow appearance suggests short formation times. Scientists think electromagnetic forces are responsible in some way for these features, but no detailed theory has been worked out.

Spokes of this nature were observed to persist at times for two or three rotations of the ring about the planet. Freshly-formed spokes seemed to revolve around the planet at the same rate as the rotation of the magnetic field and the interior of Saturn, independent of their distance from the center of Saturn. It is therefore suspected that the tiny dust grains which form the spokes are electrically charged. Older spokes, which presumably have lost their electrical charge, revolve with the underlying larger ring particles.

For a high resolution image, click here.
Keywords:
gallery
Keywords:
images
Keywords:
Cassini
Keywords:
mission
Keywords:
Huygens
Keywords:
probe
Keywords:
Saturn
Keywords:
explore
Keywords:
videos
Keywords:
movies
Keywords:
Jupiter
Keywords:
flyby
Keywords:
spacecraft
Keywords:
assembly
Keywords:
launch
Keywords:
flight
Keywords:
operations facilities
Keywords:
mpeg
Keywords:
Quicktime
facet_what:
Saturn
facet_what:
Cassini
facet_what:
Jupiter
facet_what:
Huygens Probe
facet_what:
Voyager
facet_what:
Voyager 2
facet_where:
Saturn
facet_where:
Jupiter
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
August 22, 1981
facet_when_year:
1981
UID:
SPD-SATRN-805
original url: