CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Cassini Division's Edge

The outer reaches of the Cassini Division merge with the inner A ring (at right) in a region that is rich in structure. For context, other Cassini views of this region are available (see PIA07512).

The smooth region leading up to the A ring grows brighter from left to right (a "ramp" to ring scientists). This region contains a faint "double wave" structure that is a density feature caused by the influence of the co-orbital moons Janus and Epimetheus. Scientists are interested in observing the evolution of this density wave as the moons swap places in their orbits every few years, presumably resulting in a change in the perturbations that cause this feature.

The image was taken in visible light with the narrow angle camera on Sept. 5, 2005, from a distance of approximately 441,000 kilometers (274,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: October 26, 2005 (PIA 07616)
Image/Caption Information 		  Cassini Division's Edge
PIA 07616
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