Orbits of Saturn's Rings

Top-down Saturn with color-coded ring orbits and period/speed tables

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rpAHKVh84

Saturn’s rings are swarms of icy particles on nearly circular Keplerian orbits: inner grains move faster and finish a lap in fewer hours than outer ones.

Cassini imaging and models show D-ring material can orbit in ~5 hours while F-ring grains take ~15 hours — differential motion that shears the ring system continuously.

Monday April 5th 2021