14 DAY TRIAL // The NASA Cassini spacecraft was recently able to capture an impressive image of the moon Prometheus, as it wreaked havoc in the F Ring around Saturn. The image also captures the tiny moon Daphnis – which is too dim to be seen above – as it creates waves and ripples in a structure called the Keeler Gap.
This formation is a 42-kilometer (26-mile) gap in the gas giant's A Ring, which is kept clear by Daphnis. The small moon was discovered on May 1, 2005, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) away from the router edge of the ring. The Keeler Gap was first discovered by the Voyager space probe.
In the upper part of the image, Cassini was able to capture the moon Prometheus after the space rock passed through the F Ring, creating beautiful disturbances in its icy structure. This moon is around 86 kilometers (53 miles) in diameter, as opposed to Daphnis' 8 kilometers (5 miles).
Cassini was located at a phase angle of 111 degrees, and around 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) away from Saturn when this image was taken. The resolution in this photograph is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel, mission controllers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) say.