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A failed photopolarimeter prevented Voyager 1 from observing Saturn's rings at the planned resolution; nevertheless, images from the spacecraft provided unprecedented detail of the ring system and revealed the existence of the G ring. [28] Voyager 2 ' s closest approach occurred in August 1981 at a distance of 41,000 km (25,000 mi). [27]
A ring system is a disc or torus orbiting an astronomical object that is composed of solid material such as dust, meteoroids, planetoids, moonlets, or stellar objects. Ring systems are best known as planetary rings, common components of satellite systems around giant planets such as the rings of Saturn, or circumplanetary disks.
It is estimated that the A Ring contains 7,000–8,000 propellers larger than 0.8 km in size and millions larger than 0.25 km. [4] In April 2014, NASA scientists reported the possible consolidation of a new moon within the A Ring, implying that Saturn's present moons may have formed in a similar process in the past when Saturn's ring system was ...
115 Mm – width of Saturn's Rings; 120 Mm – diameter of EBLM J0555-57Ab, the smallest-known star; 120 Mm – diameter of Saturn; 142 Mm – diameter of Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System; 170 Mm – diameter of TRAPPIST-1, a star discovered to have seven planets around it; 174 Mm – diameter of OGLE-TR-122b, one of the smallest ...
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As of 2024, Saturn has 146 confirmed satellites, grouped into: Ring moonlets and shepherds, which orbit inside or close to Saturn's rings. A moonlet can only partially clear out dust in its orbit, [177] while the ring shepherds are able to completely clear out dust, forming visible gaps in the rings. [178]
The smallest natural satellite that is gravitationally rounded is Saturn I Mimas (radius 198.2 ± 0.4 km). This is smaller than the largest natural satellite that is known not to be gravitationally rounded, Neptune VIII Proteus (radius 210 ± 7 km ).
The Phoebe ring is one of the rings of Saturn. This ring is tilted 27 degrees from Saturn's equatorial plane (and the other rings). It extends from at least 128 to 207 [20] times the radius of Saturn; Phoebe orbits the planet at an average distance of 215 Saturn radii. The ring is about 40 times as thick as the diameter of the planet. [21]