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Pandora, a pearl on the F ring

Pandora, a pearl on the F ring
Pandora, a pearl on the F ring Cassini's point of view on Pandora and the outermost edge of Saturn's rings makes the outer F ring shepherd moon look like a pearl on a string. In fact, Cassini is looking at the rings from less than a degree below the ring plane; Pandora is closer to Cassini than the faint thread of the F ring. Cassini was only 455,000 kilometers (283,000 miles) from Pandora when the image was taken, so the lumpy shape of the tiny moon is resolved in this image. Also visible is the outermost edge of the A ring, including the very thin Keeler gap. NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI