SATURN'S MAIN RINGS

Saturn's rings were observed in Aug. 1995 during Saturn's ring plane crossing. Images of both the main rings and the faint extended E and G rings were obtained. Results on the main rings were published in: Verbanac, G., I. de Pater, M. Showalter and J.J. Lissauer, 2005, Keck Infrared Observations of Saturn's Main Ring System during Earth's 1995 Ring Plane Crossing. Icarus, Vol. 174, 241-252. Results on Saturn's G and E rings were published in two papers. 1): The first groundbased detection of the G ring: de Pater, I., M. R. Showalter, J. J. Lissauer, and J. R. Graham, 1996, Keck infrared observations of Saturn's E and G rings during Earth's 1995 ring plane crossing, Icarus Note 121, 195-198. 2: de Pater, I., S. Martin, and M.R. Showalter, 2004. Keck Near-Infrared Observations of Saturn's E and G Rings during Earth's Ring Plane Crossing in August 1995. Icarus, Vol. 172, 446-454.

The image above shows a false-color image of Saturn's main rings during ring plane crossing, while we observe the "dark" or unlit side of the rings.

While the rings close up, the intensity decreases until the rings are edge-on (ring plane crossing, or RPX). Before RPX we viewed the dark or unlit side of the rings. After RPX the rings brightened fast, since they were illuminated by the Sun and the area exposed to sunlight increased rapidly. (Verbanac et al. 2005).

Comparison of infrared observations obtained with Keck (de Pater et al., 2004) and HST visible light images (from Nicholson et al., 1996). (Figure from de Pater and Lissauer, 2009: Planetary Sciences, second edition).

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