Tethys And Pointed Rings

NASA's Cassini spacecraft transmitted this image from just beneath Saturn's ringplane on Feb.

By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process

Published March 20, 2006 · Updated March 17, 2026

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft transmitted this image from just beneath Saturn’s ringplane on Feb. 12. The perspective gives the rings a pointed appearance and captures a few clumps at the edge of the narrow F ring.

The moon Tethys, 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) across, floats peacefully in the distance.

Cassini took the image in visible light with its narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 million miles) from Tethys, and the image scale on Tethys is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel.

Written by

Space Daily Editorial Team

The Space Daily Editorial Team produces content across our two editorial pillars: space industry news and Mind & Meaning. We cover launches, missions, satellites, defense, and the technology of getting humans to space, alongside the psychology of ambition, isolation, and meaning under extremes. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Space Daily takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.