this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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A Tiny Moon Creating Giant Waves in Saturn’s Rings (i.redd.it)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by ooli3@sopuli.xyz to c/space@beehaw.org
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Daphnis, a small moon of Saturn, orbits within the Keeler Gap and exerts a noticeable gravitational pull on Saturn’s rings. This effect creates striking wave-like patterns along the ring edges, offering a visual glimpse into gravitational interactions in planetary systems.

Source: NASA : https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/daphnis/

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[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 31 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Here's one taken from visable light:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daphnis_edge_wave_shadows.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

(Sorry i haven't figured out how put an image i to a comment on piefed yet)

Daphnis, 8 kilometers (5 miles) across, occupies an inclined orbit within the 42-kilometer (26-mile) wide Keeler Gap in Saturn's outer A ring.

Measurements of the shadows in this and other images indicate that the vertical structures range between one-half to 1.5 kilometers tall (about one-third to one mile), making them as much as 150 times as high as the ring is thick. The main A, B and C rings are only about 10 meters (about 30 feet) thick. Daphnis itself can be seen casting a shadow onto the nearby ring.

This image of shadows on the rings and others like it (see PIA11656 and PIA11655) are only possible around the time of Saturn's equinox which occurs every half-Saturn-year (equivalent to about 15 Earth years).

[–] Starfighter@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

What an incredible image.

I almost like it more than the artist rendition, even though it is way easier to understand/visualize.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 8 points 2 days ago

This image of shadows on the rings and others like it (see PIA11656 and PIA11655) are only possible around the time of Saturn's equinox which occurs every half-Saturn-year (equivalent to about 15 Earth years). The illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ringplane and causes out-of-plane structures to cast long shadows across the rings.

Super cool to read about this. Thanks for sharing