This is the Web Edition of "A Trip Into Space", a Coimbra-based electronic book on space science. Both the texts and the photos are by courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Saturnian Rings Fact Sheet

Rings of Saturn

                         Radius   Radius/        Optical       Albedo     Surf. Density   Eccentricity     
                          (km)     Eq. radius     Depth                     (g/cm2)
   Saturn Equator        60,268      1.000                                                                  
   D ring               >66,900     >1.11                                                
   C inner edge          74,658      1.239     0.05 - 0.35   0.12 - 0.30     0.4 - 5                                                  
   Titan ringlet         77,871      1.292                                      17          0.00026                                                        
   Maxwell ringlet       87,491      1.452                                      17          0.00034                                 
   B inner edge          91,975      1.526      0.4 - 2.5     0.4 - 0.6      20 - 100                                                                
   B outer edge         117,507      1.950                                                        
   Cassini division                            0.05 - 0.15    0.2 - 0.4       5 - 20                                                                
   A inner edge         122,340      2.030      0.4 - 1.0     0.4 - 0.6      30 - 40                                                        
   Encke gap            133,589      2.216                                                          
   A outer edge         136,775      2.269                                                        
   F ring center        140,374      2.329         0.1           0.6                        0.0026                                                         
   G ring center        170,000      2.82       1.0 x 10-6                                                         
   E inner edge        ~180,000      3          1.5 x 10-5                                                        
   E outer edge        ~480,000      8                                                         


The rings are approximately 200 meters thick

Last Update: 2004-Nov-27