|
Explanation: The active moon Enceladus appears to be making Saturn's E ring. An amazing picture showing the moon at work was taken late last year by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft and is shown above. Enceladus is the bright point near the center, right near the center of Saturn's E ring. Streams of ice and water vapor can be seen pouring off Enceladus into the E ring. The above bright image of the normally faint E-ring was made possible by aligning Cassini so that Saturn blocked the Sun. From that perspective, small ring particles reflect incoming sunlight more efficiently. Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn for almost three years, and is scheduled to swoop by the unexpectedly cryovolcanic Enceladus at least several more times.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Enceladus - Saturn rings
Publications with words: Enceladus - Saturn rings
See also:
- APOD: 2025 November 16 B Crossing Saturns Ring Plane
- APOD: 2025 June 10 B Enceladus in True Color
- APOD: 2025 April 29 B Saturns Rings Appear to Disappear
- Saturn at Night
- APOD: 2024 August 25 B Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturns Enceladus
- Crescent Enceladus
- APOD: 2023 February 5 B Enceladus by Saturnshine