Cassini finds new Saturn ring details

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- NASA scientists say they are surprised at the extent of ruffles and dust clouds discovered in the rings of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft.

Researchers, who once thought the rings were nearly completely flat, say Cassini's newest images reveal the heights of some recently discovered bumps in the rings are as high as the Rocky Mountains.

"It's like putting on 3-D glasses and seeing the third dimension for the first time," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is among the most important events Cassini has shown us."

The images were taken Aug. 11, when sunlight hit Saturn's rings exactly edge-on, performing "a celestial magic trick" that made them all but disappear, NASA said, noting the event occurs twice during each orbit Saturn makes around the sun, which takes approximately 10,759 Earth days, or about 29.7 Earth years. Earth experiences a similar equinox phenomenon twice a year.

"We thought the plane of the rings was no taller than two stories of a modern-day building and instead we've come across walls more than two miles high," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "Isn't that the most outrageous thing you could imagine? It truly is like something out of science fiction."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA and the European and Italian Space Agencies.