This magnified view illustrates the general orientation of the "propeller"
features in Saturn's rings as they orbit the planet. The propellers are
features detected in Cassini images that reveal the gravitational
influence of moonlets approximately 100 meters (300 feet) in diameter.
The view is from one of the two Saturn orbit insertion images, taken on
July 1, 2004, in which the propellers were discovered.
The two dashes of the propeller are oriented in the direction of orbital
motion. The "leading" dash is also slightly closer to Saturn; this "radial
offset" is about 300 meters (1000 feet). The unseen moonlet lies in the
center of the structure.
The grainy appearance of the image is due to magnification and the fact
that the propellers are very faint--just visible above the level of
background noise. Consequently, the image enhancement procedures used have
also enhanced the noise.
This propeller image is identified as "feature 1" in PIA07790. The
original Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera image has been magnified
from its original scale for presentation.
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.
