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The analysis helped scientists to create new maps of rings showing how chemistry, temperature, and colors change from ring to ring.
And although they seem smooth and homogeneous from afar, up close, it is clear that there are different structures within the rings. Textures and patterns emerge. Some look like straw; others are filled with tufts. Different processes have shaped them.
Some of these processes include the tiny moons of Saturn, embedded in the rings, that interact with the particles that surround them.
In the outer ring F, a series of streaks appear to have been caused by the same impacts due to their similar length and direction. This particular ring is shaped by materials that revolve around Saturn, as opposed to debris that crash into the rings.
"These new details on how moons carve rings in different ways open a window to the formation of the solar system, where records also evolve under the influence of embedded masses," said Matt Tiscareno, lead author of Cassini's study and scientist at the SETI Institute, in a statement.
There are limits around distinct textures, which can allude to the composition of the rings and the function of these different types of particles.
"This tells us that the appearance of the rings is not only a function of the amount of material available," Tiscareno said. "There must be something different about particle characteristics, perhaps affecting what happens when two ring particles collide and bounce, and we do not know what it is."
Ring A was found to have weak bands of water ice. This area is very reflective, so we thought that the bands would be stronger and less contaminated.
Scientists had discovered that ice in the water was the main component of the rings, but the new analysis ruled out the presence of ice with ammonia and methane, as well as organic compounds. This is surprising because organic matter has been seen falling from the D ring into the atmosphere of Saturn during the Cassini mission.
"If organic materials were present in large quantities – at least in the main rings A, B and C – we would see them," said Phil Nicholson, author of Cassini's study and scientist at Cornell University. "I am not yet convinced that they are a major component of the main rings."
During his last dive, Cassini's ionic and neutral mass spectrometer acted as the "nose" of the Space Shuttle, directly sampling the composition and structure of the atmosphere. It's something that can not be done in orbit, said Hunter Waite, senior scientist on the spectrometer.
The purpose of this operation was to investigate the "rain of circles" phenomenon discovered by NASA's Voyager mission in the early 1980s, in which it appeared that the rings were raining on the planet and causing changes in the atmosphere. . The spectrometer could determine the material of the rings and the atmosphere.
According to the spectrometer team, Cassini's nose hit the "jackpot" while he was sniffing the unknown region between the planet and its closest rings. This is essential because the upper atmosphere of Saturn extends almost to the rings.
"It turns out that ring rain looks more like a ring shower," Waite said. "While [the spectrometer] was designed to study the gases, we could measure the particles of the ring, because they hit the spacecraft at such a high speed that they vaporized. Water ice, as well as newly discovered organic compounds, detach from rings much faster than previously thought – up to 10,000 kilograms of material per second. "
Water ice was expected, but not other organic matter.
"Molecular hydrogen was, as could be expected, the most abundant atmospheric constituent," said Kelly Miller, co-author of the Southwest Research Institute's Scientific and Research Institute. "But the rain coming from the rings included a lot of water as well as molecules like butane and propane – the type of chemicals that you could use for a grill or camping stove."
So much data has been gathered during the Cassini mission that the quest for answers is only continuing. Years of research and studies are yet to come.
"We're seeing a lot more and getting closer, and we're getting new, more interesting puzzles," said Jeff Cuzzi, author of Cassini's study and interdisciplinary scientist studying Rings. "We are moving to the next phase, which involves building new detailed models of the evolution of the rings – including the new revelation from Cassini's data that the rings are much younger than Saturn. "
Although Cassini's data answered many questions about Saturn, new questions and new mysteries emerged from the mission.
"It's like increasing the power over what you can see in the rings, everyone now has a clearer view of what's going on," said Linda Spilker. author of the study and scientist of the Cassini project. "The obtaining of this additional resolution has answered many questions, but there are still so many tempting ones."
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