Saturn's A-ring

Voyager 2 cameras acquired this photograph of Saturn's A-ring Aug. 26 from a distance of 227,800 kilometers (141,500 miles). This view of the ring's outer edge shows a small bright, clumpy ring within the Encke Gap (center of this image) that exhibits kinks reminiscent of those observed in the F-ring by Voyager 1 last fall but not by Voyager 2. Voyager 1 saw two similar clumpy rings in this region at much lower resolution. Also visible are a bright ringlet at the very outer edge of the A-ring and several bright wave patterns in the Encke region. The small bright patch on the inner edge of the Encke Gap near the ring is an artifact of processing. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.