Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 4

                   In, Through, and Beyond Saturn's Rings
           Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA

   Explanation: Four moons are visible on the featured image -- can you
   find them all? First -- and farthest in the background -- is Titan, the
   largest moon of Saturn and one of the larger moons in the Solar System.
   The dark feature across the top of this perpetually cloudy world is the
   north polar hood. The next most obvious moon is bright Dione, visible
   in the foreground, complete with craters and long ice cliffs. Jutting
   in from the left are several of Saturn's expansive rings, including
   Saturn's A ring featuring the dark Encke Gap. On the far right, just
   outside the rings, is Pandora, a moon only 80-kilometers across that
   helps shepherd Saturn's F ring. The fourth moon? If you look closely
   inside Saturn's rings, in the Encke Gap, you will find a speck that is
   actually Pan. Although one of Saturn's smallest moons at 35-kilometers
   across, Pan is massive enough to help keep the Encke gap relatively
   free of ring particles. After more than a decade of exploration and
   discovery, the Cassini spacecraft ran low on fuel in 2017 and was
   directed to enter Saturn's atmosphere, where it surely melted.

                     Tomorrow's picture: remaining wisps
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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