PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE 
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY 
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. Telephone (2l3) 354-5011 
  
PHOTO CAPTION                       (TOP)          P-23960C
                                                   S-2-52 
                                                   Aug. 29, 1981

This synthesized picture illustrates the brightness contours that
represent the fine structure observed in Saturn's F-ring using a
stellar occultation profile compiled by the Voyager 2 photopolarimeter.
Because of the instrument's high sensitivity and the small apparent
size of the star used, Delta Scorpii, structure was observed on a
much finer scale -- hundreds of meters -- than would otherwise be
possible. The highest-resolution of the Voyager imaging system is
seldom better than 10 kilometers. The F-ring was represented here
by sweeping the "trace" in longitude with much the same overall
form as seen at several points by the imaging system, with a dense
outer core and a diffuse set of inner strands. A great deal of
radial structure at the subkilometer scale, however, is evident in
these data. It must be remembered that the azimuthal symmetry and
lack of kinks or knots here are only artifacts of the representation,
which takes a single narrow slice of the rings. The Voyager Project
is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

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