Natasha 🇪🇺May 5, 2025

This is Daphnis, one of Saturn's moons. This image shows its unusual gravitational effect on Saturn's rings ...

Daphnis is only about 8 km wide, but its gravity disturbs Saturn's A ring, creating ripples and edge waves. It orbits within the Keeler Gap, a 42 km-wide gap in the rings. This image shows how even small moons can shape massive ring systems.

⬇️ It's a render from 2016 by Kevin Gill. Lots of discussions in the replies.

#Astronomy #Saturn

Show threadMeaningfulBits
@Natasha_Jay this is crazy cool but are we sure we aren't creating a problems? Imagine we somehow collapse the rings of Saturn because we got too close. I'm sure smarter people have determined otherwise, and just the thought of the scale and how big it actually is, these 'tiny' ripples are probably the size of Wyoming.
May 5, 2025 at 5:32pmMastodon for Android