Rings of Saturn
planetary phenomena
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- (en) Rings of Saturn
- (be-tarask) Кольцы Сатурна
- (bo) སྤེན་པའི་གདུབ་ཀོར
- (ca) Anells de Saturn
- (cs) Prstence Saturnu
- (de) Saturnringe
- (el) Δακτύλιοι του Κρόνου
- (es) Anillos de Saturno
- (fi) Saturnuksen renkaat
- (fr) Anneaux de Saturne
- (he) טבעות שבתאי
- (it) Anelli di Saturno
- (ja) 土星の衛星と環#環
- (ko) 토성의 고리
- (lt) Saturno žiedai
- (ms) Gelang Zuhal
- (nn) Saturnringane
- (pl) Pierścienie Saturna
- (pt) Anéis de Saturno
- (ru) Кольца Сатурна
- (simple) Rings of Saturn
- (sk) Prstence Saturna
- (sl) Saturnovi obroči
- (stq) Ringe fon Saturn
- (sv) Saturnus ringar
- (th) วงแหวนของดาวเสาร์
- (tr) Satürn'ün halkaları
- (uk) Кільця Сатурна
- (zh) 土星環
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/System-search.svg/25px-System-search.svg.png)
Full
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The full set of main rings, imaged as Saturn eclipsed the sun from the vantage of the Cassini spacecraft on September 15, 2006 (brightness is exaggerated). The "pale blue dot" at the 10 o'clock position, outside the main rings and just inside the G Ring, is Earth.
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views from Earth at successive oppositions
Historical
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Galileo Galilei's sketches in 1610 and 1616
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Systema Saturnium, 1659; Huygens' explanation for the aspects of Saturn
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Robert Hooke noted the shadows (a and b) cast by both the globe and the rings on each other in this 1666 drawing of Saturn.
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Christiaan Huygens sketched the gap later to be named the Cassini Division, 1676
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space probe Voyager 2 returned this image in 1981
Simulated views
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A simulated image using color to present radio occultation-derived information on ring particle sizes.
Subdivisions
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The illuminated side of Saturn's rings with the major subdivisions labeled
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Map of main divisions and some shepherd moons
A Ring
editKeeler Gap
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Waves in the Keeler gap edges induced by the passage of Daphnis.
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Near Saturn's equinox, Daphnis and its waves cast shadows on the A Ring.
Encke Gap
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The central ringlet of the A ring's Encke Gap coincides with Pan’s orbit, implying its particles oscillate in horseshoe orbits.
Cassini Division
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The Cassini Division imaged from the Cassini spacecraft. The Huygens Gap lies at its right border; the Laplace Gap is towards the center. A number of other, narrower gaps are also present.
Huygens Gap
editB Ring
editMaxwell Gap
editC Ring
editColombo Gap
editD Ring
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A Cassini image of Saturn's D ring processed to show faint ripples within it; the much brighter C ring appears in the upper left.
Spokes
editGIF version (400 × 400 pixels, file size: 2.21 MB)
Moonlets
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Location of the first four moonlets detected in the A ring.
Roche Division
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The Roche Division (passing through image center) between the A Ring and the narrow F Ring. Atlas can be seen within it. The Encke and Keeler gaps are also visible.
F Ring
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Shepherd moon Prometheus stabilises the F-Ring
Outer rings
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The outer rings seen back-illuminated by the Sun
G Ring
editMethone Ring Arc
editAnthe Ring Arc
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The Anthe Ring Arc. The bright spot is Anthe.
Pallene Ring
editE Ring
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The backlit E ring, with Enceladus silhouetted against it. The moon's south polar jets erupt brightly below it.
Phoebe ring
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The Phoebe ring's huge extent dwarfs the main rings. Inset: 24 micron Spitzer image of part of the ring.