![]() ![]() Scientists are already analyzing the new image of Daphnis and identifying broad surface features on the moon. Daphnis was the son of Hermes, brother of Pan and a descendant of the Titans, tying the name to other members of the Saturn system. Saturn has an equinox once every half-year on the planet, equivalent to approximately 15 Earth years.Īfter its discovery in 2005, Daphnis was named for a pastoral poet, shepherd and pipes player in Greek mythology, according to NASA. The June 2009 observation was aided by Saturn’s equinox, when the sun shines in line with the planet’s ring plane. Vertical structures created by Saturn’s small moon Daphnis cast long shadows across the rings in this dramatic image taken by Cassini on June 8, 2009, at a distance of 414,000 miles (666,000 kilometers). A longer-range picture taken by Cassini in 2009 shows Daphnis casting an elongated shadow across Saturn’s rings, along with the vertical extent of the waves created by the moon’s passage. ![]() The waves trail Daphnis at the outer margins of the Keeler Gap, where ice particles move slower relative to Saturn.ĭaphnis orbits with a slight inclination, making the moon oscillate above and below the ring plane and dragging icy material along with it. Material at the inner edge of the gap orbit Saturn at slightly faster speeds than Daphnis, fostering waves that appear ahead of the moon’s path. The moon measures around 5 miles (8 kilometers) in diameter, and the Keeler Gap stretches around 26 miles (42 kilometers) wide, a relatively narrow opening in which Daphnis’s weak gravity brushes up against the ice particles making up the walls of the gap. The moon was discovered by Cassini scientists in 2005, confirming suspicions that something was hiding inside the Keeler Gap, one of several open lanes in Saturn’s discontinuous ring system. The spacecraft was about 17,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) from Daphnis at the time. 16 is the best view ever taken of Daphnis, a football-shaped object carving a gap in one of Saturn’s outer rings. The image taken by Cassini’s narrow-angle camera Jan. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured the first close-up view of Daphnis, one of at least 62 moons found orbiting Saturn, plowing a path through the planet’s icy rings and raising waves in its wake. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Each pixel measures about 551 feet (168 meters) across. ![]() It is the closest picture of Daphnis ever taken. The wavemaker moon, Daphnis, is featured in this view taken by the Cassini spacecraft Jan. ![]()
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