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When the solar system decided he liked Saturn and wanted to put a ring on it, he set up the most astonishing and complex puzzle possible. It is therefore not surprising that scientists are still interested in how it works.
For centuries, the rings of Saturn seemed simple, though they were beautiful, until Cassini spacecraft from NASA arrived on the planet in 2004 and began to reveal their complexity. Nearly two years after the end of the mission, researchers are still publishing new studies that attempt to better understand the characteristics based on the data collected by the spacecraft.
"By getting closer to the rings, by obtaining higher resolution images and spectra, we are starting to have new views, some of the best views of the dynamics and evolution of what is going on in Rings of Saturn, "Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told Space.com.
Related: Photos: The glorious rings of Saturn are getting closer
Spilker is co-author of a new document detailing some of the strange features Cassini has been studying in Rings of Saturn. "What is fascinating is that we are getting closer and closer and we are seeing more and more structure in the rings," she said. What seemed to be flat by far, the boring leaves turned out to be vibrant grooved structures, embellished with small details and holes.
Some details clearly show a change, such as a series of bumps caused by the interaction between the rings and the little moon Daphnis.
And scientists are still determining the cause of these details. "Much of the structure, we do not understand what keeps it in the long run," Spilker said. "We know that annular particles stick for at least a short time … maybe some of the larger particles even create spaces around them."
The new document describes some of the structures that seem to be created in this way, which scientists have dubbed propellers for their jagged-blade shape that appears against the smooth striations of the rings. Other characteristics are more subtle: small changes in the structure or composition of the rings that give the appearance of streaks or lumps.
Artistic representation of NASA's Cassini spacecraft arriving at Saturn.
(Image: © NASA / JPL / Caltech)
(Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech / Institute of Space Science)
The rings of Saturn seem to form a majestic arc on the planet in this image of the Cassini spacecraft.
(Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech / Institute of Space Science)
The Cassini probe watches Saturn's small moon, Epimetheus, orbiting the rings of the planet. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini probe's narrow-angle camera on December 30, 2011.
(Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech / Institute of Space Science)
In this Cassini Saturn image, the helix in the rings that scientists dubbed Earhart (bottom left of the image) was re-acquired.
(Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech / Institute of Space Science)
The Cassini probe captured this raw image of Saturn en route for its eighth dive between the planet and its rings.
(Image: © NASA / JPL-Caltech / Institute of Space Science)
One day, Spilker hopes that scientists will still be able to inspect the rings more closely. During the design of Cassini's trajectory during her 13 years at Saturn, mission engineers feared that particles from the rings could damage the spacecraft. latest dangerous maneuvers Through an interval between the rings, they took care to protect the spacecraft, protecting it behind its high-gain antenna.
But as the spacecraft flew, its operators realized that these particles were safe – a process that scientists still do not understand has crushed them so small that they looked like smoke particles. This awareness could pave the way for bolder missions to explore rings, even though larger particles in the rings could still pose a threat.
Cassini stopped collecting data in September 2017, dive into Saturn's atmosphere burn. But scientists still have data from the spaceship and they know that there are still many mysteries to discover. "I think in many ways we have only skimmed the cream of the data," Spilker said.
New research and hypotheses based on Cassini data are described in three articles published today (June 13) in the journal Science.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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