Multiple faint, streamer-like objects can be seen in this high resolution
Cassini spacecraft view of the F ring's bright core.
The regular spacing of some of the features extending from the core
indicates that they could all be produced by the perturbing effect of a
single body as it passes close by. Scientists are examining Cassini images
closely in an attempt to determine whether there are tiny moonlets -- or
perhaps transient clumps of material -- orbiting Saturn near the F ring
core. The researchers believe the streamer features seen here could be
caused by a related phenomenon to that by which Prometheus produces
streamers in the F ring (see PIA07582).
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft
narrow-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately
339,000 kilometers (211,000 miles) from Saturn and at a
Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 69 degrees. Image scale is 2
kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The
Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space
Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team
homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
