ring confinement tagged posts

This image from NASA’s Cassini mission clearly show the ring’s density waves created by the small moons. The waves look like the grooves in a vinyl record. Credit: NASA

For 3 decades, astronomers thought that only Saturn’s moon Janus confined the planet’s A ring – the largest and farthest of the visible rings. But after poring over NASA’s Cassini mission data, Cornell astronomers now conclude that the teamwork of seven moons keeps this ring corralled. Without forces to hold the A ring in check, the ring would keep spreading out and ultimately disappear...