In 1988 we will be able to see Saturn's rings in their fullest glory.
The theory neatly accounts for why Saturn's rings are nearly pure ice, while most objects in that part of the solar system are more an ice-rock blend.
WHY are Saturn's rings so spectacular?
Saturn's rings to be about one kilometer thick, making them many times thinner, in relative proportion, than a razor blade.
The extreme thinness of Saturn's rings can be appreciated from frames taken near the crossing time.
Indeed, observations made with the Cassini spacecraft have shown that accretion processes are still active at the outer edge of Saturn's rings and on the satellites Pan and Atlas.
The effects of the small moon Prometheus loom large on two of Saturn's rings in this image released by NASA.
Saturn's rings are only tens of meters from top to bottom even though they stretch across several hundred thousand kilometers; they are proportionally as thick as a sheet of tissue paper spread over a football field.
