
Prometheus is caught in the act of creating gores and streamers in the F ring. Scientists believe that Prometheus and its partner-moon Pandora are responsible for much of the structure in the F ring as shown by NASA Cassini spacecraft. The orbit of Prometheus (53 miles, or 86 kilometers across) regularly brings it into the F ring. When this happens, it creates gores, or channels, in the ring where it entered. Prometheus then draws ring material with it as it exits the ring, leaving streamers in its wake. This process creates the pattern of structures seen in this image. This process is described in detail, along with a movie of Prometheus creating one of the streamer/channel features, in PIA08397. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 8.6 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 11, 2014. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 147 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (13 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18270
Most NASA images are in the public domain and free to use. Credit NASA as the source. Check NASA's media usage guidelines for details. Images featuring identifiable individuals may require additional permissions.
NASA ID
PIA18270
Date Created
June 9, 2014
Center
JPL
Media Type
image
Download this image in multiple resolutions. All NASA media are free for public use.
480px