The Story of the Solar System: Inside the rings of Saturn

Flying into the rings of Saturn reveals what they are made of: a rubble of ice, rock and dust, ranging in size from a small house to a grain of sand.

This is one of the last images of Saturn’s rings taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, on 13 September 2017. Data from the mission is enabling scientists to learn more about the planet, its moons and its rings. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

This competition is now closed

August 12, 2018 at 12:00 pm

Animation by Mark Garlick.

Advertisement

Tags

You may also like

A fitting tribute to Annie Maunder's solar work, AMAT's dedicated hydrogen-alpha telescope can capture dynamic activity in the Sun's broiling atmosphere.
Credit: Royal Observatory Greenwich AMAT (c) National Maritime Museum, London

The Story of the Solar System

Weather in the Solar System

Callisto's anti-Jovian hemisphere imaged in 2001 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft

The Story of the Solar System: Ice spires on Callisto

A view of Saturn’s rings captured by the Cassini spacecraft on 21 July 2016. Just below rings can be spotted Saturn’s tiny moon Mimas. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Saturn’s rings are disappearing