Herding the Rings

Herding the Rings
December 17, 2004
PIA NumberPIA06481
Language
  • english


Herding the Rings

September 21, 2004




Saturn's moon Prometheus is seen shepherding the inner edge of Saturn's F ring. Prometheus is 102 kilometers (63 miles) across and was captured in a close-up view by the Cassini spacecraft near the time of orbital insertion at Saturn PIA06098. A number of clumps are visible here along the arcing F ring.


The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.


For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org .


Image Credit:

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute