NASA shares stunning image of Saturn’s moon Pandora

It was once thought that Saturn’s oddly-shaped moon Pandora worked like a ‘shepherd’ alongside Prometheus, helping to mold the form of the narrow F ring.

Cassini’s observations over the course of its 13-year mission, however, suggest this may not be the case; instead, its gravity may be causing ‘chaos’ in the ring material.

In a stunning image captured by the spacecraft as it headed toward its fatal plunge, NASA has revealed a look at the ‘would-be perturber’ – showing Cassini’s last look at Pandora, as it sits in the vast expanse of space beside the F ring.

 

The newly released image was captured on September 14, just one day before Cassini’s death dive. It was taken in visible light with the narrow-angle camera, at a distance of approximately 360,000 miles (577,000 kilometers) from Pandora. The stunning photo shows Pandora, the ‘would-be perturber’ alongside the F ring

SATURN’S RINGS 

Saturn’s rings consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that orbit the planet.

The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. 

They also contain features known as straw and propellers, which are caused by ‘clumping ring particles and small, embedded moonlets, respectively.’

According to NASA, the Cassini data showed that Pandora played a much smaller role in the shape of the F ring than originally suspected.

‘Over the course of its mission, Cassini helped scientists understand that Pandora plays a smaller role than they originally thought in shaping the narrow ring,’ NASA explains.

‘When Cassini arrived at Saturn, many thought that Pandora and Prometheus worked together to shepherd the F ring between them, confining it and sculpting its unusual braided and kinked structures,’ NASA explains.

‘However, data from Cassini show that the gravity of the two moons together actually stirs the F ring into a chaotic state, generating the ‘gap and streamer’ structure seen elsewhere.’

Now, scientists say it’s likely Prometheus alone that shapes the bulk of the F ring, establishing stable locations for the ring material. 

The newly released image was captured on September 14, just one day before Cassini’s death dive.

During a conference at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Science meeting in Provo, Utah, the Cassini team shared a number of new findings just one month after the spacecraft's mission-ending plunge. The image above shows a snippet of Cassini's panoramic look across the ringscape

During a recent conference at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Science meeting in Provo, Utah, the Cassini team shared a number of new findings just one month after the spacecraft’s mission-ending plunge. The image above shows a snippet of Cassini’s panoramic look across the ringscape

It was taken in visible light with the narrow-angle camera, at a distance of approximately 360,000 miles (577,000 kilometers) from Pandora.

Preliminary findings from the final Cassini data have revealed Saturn’s remarkable expanse of rings is held together through the ‘group effort’ of several moons, relying on cumulative gravitational effects to prevent the orbiting particles from dispersing.

This is just one of many new insights scientists have now revealed on Saturn and its rings, as they begin to comb through the data collected during Cassini’s final moments.

During a conference at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Science meeting in Provo, Utah, the Cassini team shared a number of new findings just one month after the spacecraft’s mission-ending plunge.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft ended its 13-year Saturn mission on September 15, in a fiery death dive into the planet's atmosphere. An artist's impression is pictured

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ended its 13-year Saturn mission on September 15, in a fiery death dive into the planet’s atmosphere. An artist’s impression is pictured

CASSINI’S DISCOVERIES IN ITS 20-YEAR MISSION

Cassini launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1997, then spent seven years in transit followed by 13 years orbiting Saturn.

In 2000 it spent six months studying Jupiter before reaching Saturn in 2004.

In that time, it discovered six more moons around Saturn, three-dimensional structures towering above Saturn’s rings, and a giant storm that raged across the planet for nearly a year.

On 13 December 2004 it made its first flyby of Saturn’s moons Titan and Dione.

On 24 December it released the European Space Agency-built Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan to study its atmosphere and surface composition.

There it discovered eerie hydrocarbon lakes made from ethane and methane.

In 2008, Cassini completed its primary mission to explore the Saturn system and began its mission extension (the Cassini Equinox Mission).

In 2010 it began its second mission (Cassini Solstice Mission) which lasted until it exploded in Saturn’s atmosphere.

In December 2011, Cassini obtained the highest resolution images of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

In December of the following year it tracked the transit of Venus to test the feasibility of observing planets outside our solar system.

In March 2013 Cassini made the last flyby of Saturn’s moon Rhea and measured its internal structure and gravitational pull.

In July of that year Cassini captured a black-lit Saturn to examine the rings in fine detail and also captured an image of Earth.

In April of this year it completed its closest flyby of Titan and started its Grande Finale orbit which finished on September 15.

‘The mission has changed the way we think of where life may have developed beyond our Earth,’ said Andrew Coates, head of the Planetary Science Group at Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London.

‘As well as Mars, outer planet moons like Enceladus, Europa and even Titan are now top contenders for life elsewhere,’ he added. ‘We’ve completely rewritten the textbooks about Saturn.’

The researchers have also unveiled stunning new views captured from the gap between Saturn and its rings, including a panoramic shot across the ringscape, and a look at the planet’s dancing auroras.

According to the Cassini team, the spacecraft also managed to capture new details on ring features known as propellers.

These are wakes created by tiny, unseen moonlets – and, they’re much like baby planets forming in the disks around young stars, the researchers say.

The final images in the rings, captured a day before Cassini ended its mission, the craft imaged all six of the propellers it had been tracking: Blériot, Earhart, Santos-Dumont, Sikorsky, Post and Quimby.

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