Cassini Detected Something Weird as It Passed Through The Shadow of Saturn’s Rings

Although Cassini’s demise was the end of an era for unprecedented Saturn observation, it also went out on a high note.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Cassini Detected Something Weird as It Passed Through The Shadow of Saturn’s Rings

Although Cassini’s demise was the end of an era for unprecedented Saturn observation, it also went out on a high note.

more…

“Researchers from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and NASA Goddard have found that there is less ionisation and a noticeable drop in plasma in places where the ring shadows fall. They concluded that the B-ring and most of the A-ring must be opaque to extreme ultraviolet radiation. Meanwhile, the effect was not observed for the C and D rings, which therefore must allow ultraviolet radiation to pass through. The scientists also found that the ionosphere was a lot more varied than they expected, with electron density sometimes changing drastically between one orbit and the next. This variation could not be explained by the shadows alone.”

I’m hoping to find out if Cassini’s final passes successfully weighed Saturn’s rings.