PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA12612: In the Arc
 Target Name:  S Rings
 Is a satellite of:  Saturn
 Mission:  Cassini-Huygens
 Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
 Instrument:  ISS - Narrow Angle
 Product Size:  1000 x 1000 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Cassini Imaging Team
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA12612.tif (1.001 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA12612.jpg (49.21 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This Cassini spacecraft image holds an unseen treasure orbiting within the bright arc of Saturn's G ring: the tiny moonlet Aegaeon.

The moonlet itself is too small to be seen within the arc pictured here, but is thought to be the source of the debris forming the bright arc in the lower right portion of the G ring in this image. See PIA11148 to learn more about tiny Aegaeon (formerly known as S/2008 S 1). This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 4 degrees below the ringplane. Many background stars are visible elongated by the motion of the spacecraft during the image's exposure.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 24, 2010. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Image Addition Date:
2010-04-15