Cassini Sees Clumps in Saturn's B-Ring

One of the latest views the NASA Cassini spacecraft sent back to Earth shows a pattern of turbulences in Saturn's B-ring (visible on the left side of the photo). According to researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA), the moon Mimas may be responsible for these disruptions.

The latter is the 20th largest moon in the entire solar system, and is the smallest celestial body known to have become spherical due to the action of its own gravitational field. Mimas also spins around Saturn twice as fast as the B-ring.

As it passes alongside the thin wisp of ice and dust, it creates gravitational disturbances that swirl the gas, creating the patterns you can easily see above. Another effect of Mimas' passing is the clumping of particles in the ring into larger chunks.

Weirdly enough, the ring maintains its shape even so.