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.

                               2019 November 3

                       Daphnis and the Rings of Saturn
      Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Cassini

   Explanation: What's happening to the rings of Saturn? A little moon
   making big waves. The moon is 8-kilometer Daphnis and it is making
   waves in the Keeler Gap of Saturn's rings using just its gravity -- as
   it bobs up and down, in and out. The featured image is a colored and
   more detailed version of a previously released images taken in 2017 by
   the robotic Cassini spacecraft during one of its Grand Finale orbits.
   Daphnis can be seen on the far right, sporting ridges likely
   accumulated from ring particles. Daphnis was discovered in Cassini
   images in 2005 and raised mounds of ring particles so high in 2009 --
   during Saturn's equinox when the ring plane pointed directly at the Sun
   -- that they cast notable shadows.

               Tomorrow's picture: turmoil in a stellar lagoon
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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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