Image:PIA08824 A ring spiral density waves.jpg

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Description

Several spiral density waves in Saturn's A ring are seen in this detailed view. There is a grainy texture visible between the brightness peaks in the most prominent wave. Scientists think the graininess might be indicative of self-gravitating clumps of material that are formed by the spiraling wave.

Downward in the image represents the direction toward Saturn. This view looks toward the lit side of the rings from about 42 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 8, 2006. Cassini was then at a distance of approximately 300,000 kilometers (200,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 27 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (4,580 feet) 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/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

The original NASA image has been modified by cropping.
Source

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08824
Date

2006-11-08
Author

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Permission
(Reusing this image)

see below

This image or video was catalogued by Jet Propulsion Lab of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: PIA08824.
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Public domain
 This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy).

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current03:59, 25 February 2008800×600 (233 KB)WolfmanSF ({{Information |Description=Several spiral density waves in Saturn's A ring are seen in this detailed view. There is a grainy texture visible between the brightness peaks in the most prominent wave. Scientists think the graininess might be indicative of se)
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Orientation Normal
Horizontal resolution 72 dpi
Vertical resolution 72 dpi
Software used Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Macintosh
File change date and time 19:55, 24 February 2008
Color space 65535