Divulgação Científica e Campanhas Educativas
Great Divide: It's difficult to get a sense of scale when viewing Saturn's rings, but the Cassini Division (seen here between the bright B ring and dimmer A ring) is almost as wide as the planet Mercury. The 2,980-mile-wide (4,800-kilometer-wide) division in Saturn's rings is thought to be caused by the moon Mimas. Particles within the division orbit Saturn almost exactly twice for every time that Mimas orbits, leading to a build-up of gravitational nudges from the moon. These repeated gravitational interactions sculpt the outer edge of the B ring and keep its particles from drifting into the Cassini Division. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #saturn #astronomy #space #nasabeyond #cassini #mimas #science Uma foto publicada por NASA (@nasa) em Abr 11, 2016 às 6:08 PDT
