Mostly Mute Monday: The Glory Of Saturn’s Rings (Synopsis)

“This then, I thought, as I looked round about me, is the representation of history. It requires a falsification of perspective. We, the survivors, see everything from above, see everything at once, and still we do not know how it was.” -W.G. Sebald

From their discovery in the 1600s, Saturn's rings have been a source of wonder and puzzlement to skywatchers everywhere. The only ring system visible through most telescopes from Earth, Saturn's main rings at more than 70,000 km long, yet no more than 1 km in thickness.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Once thought to have only two gaps in them, the Cassini spacecraft has revealed over a thousand, teaching us that Saturn's rings are likely as old as the planet itself, and will likely continue to exist for as long as our Sun shines.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Go read the whole story of Saturn's glorious rings!

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Love the second photo above, with the rings showing the sharpness of the depth of that particular ring - comes out like mountainous shadows. I would imagine a lot of turbulence along that edge creating the thickening of it. Gee whiz .... what a photo ! !

Agreed, that photo blew me away as well. Aweseome.. just breathtaking! Wasn't aware such closeup detail existed.

Also on medium the photo of side by side comparison of rings in visible and radio... don't know if ethan did it intentionaly.. but when scrolling it gives a nice optical effect of an oscilator making waves :)

By Sinisa Lazarek (not verified) on 15 Sep 2015 #permalink