Cassini Captures Saturn F Ring

The Cassini spacecraft has captured an image revealing structure in Saturn's narrow and complex F ring, including one of the faint strands that seems to curl around the planet in a tight, rotating spiral.

By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process

Published February 27, 2006 · Updated March 14, 2026

The Cassini spacecraft has captured an image revealing structure in Saturn’s narrow and complex F ring, including one of the faint strands that seems to curl around the planet in a tight, rotating spiral. Scientists think the spiral structure might be due to disturbance of micron-sized F-ring particles by a tiny moon – or moons.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 19, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn and from just above the ring plane. The image scale is 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

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