While the picture looks like some sort of electron-microscopic view of some interesting metallic material, it’s actually the Encke Gap in Saturn’s rings, picture complements of Cassini.
One of the new images from Cassini is of the Encke gap, a 325-kilometre void in Saturn’s outermost main ring, known as the A ring. Scallops on the inner edge of the gap are thought to be caused by the gravity of the small moon Pan, which orbits inside the gap. The scallops leave a spiral wake behind them that spreads inwards from the edge.
“This is textbook ring physics,” says Carolyn Porco, head of the imaging team. “I thought my team was playing tricks on me and showing me a simulation of the rings rather than the rings themselves.”
Just way too cool.
(via Warren Ellis)