These views, taken two hours apart, demonstrate the dramatic variability
in the structure of Saturn's intriguing F ring.
In the image at the left, ringlets in the F ring and Encke Gap display
distinctive kinks, and there is a bright patch of material on the F
ring's inner edge. Saturn's moon Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles
across) is shown here, partly illuminated by reflected light from the
planet.
At the right, Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) orbits
ahead of the radial striations in the F ring, called "drapes" by
scientists. The drapes appear to be caused by successive passes of
Prometheus as it reaches the greatest distance (apoapse) in its orbit of
Saturn. Also in this image, the outermost ringlet visible in the Encke
Gap displays distinctive bright patches.
These views were obtained from about three degrees below the ring plane.
The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft
narrow-angle camera on June 29, 2005, when Cassini was about 1.5 million
kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 9
kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.
