More detail of Saturn's Rings

This detailed image, recently released by NASA, reminds us of the reason for the second largest gap in Saturn's ring system, known as the Encke gap. The picture was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in late October 2006, and clearly shows how the tiny moon Pan has cleared a 325 km (200 mile) wide path of ring debris - mostly made up of small dirty snowball like material.

New image showing the cause of the Encke gap in Saturn's Rings. © NASA

The moon, as seen in the centre of the above image, is only 26 km (16 miles) across, but exerts enough gravitational pull on nearby ring particles to make them move out of its path, leaving a clearly defined division.

Artist's impression of Saturn, showing the Cassini and Encke divisions. © NASA

The most famous gap in Saturn's rings is known as the Cassini Division, and it is this one that can be seen quite clearly in images of Saturn taken by the Liverpool Telescope using Go Observing.