Saturn's Circular Bandings Display Rainbows, and Astronomers Believe They Have Determined Their Origin
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have uncovered a breathtaking spectacle in the depths of space: space rainbows around the moon Enceladus. This unprecedented finding, with its poetic beauty, has been detailed in a recent study published in the September 2025 issue of a renowned scientific journal, available for reading online at arxiv.org/abs/2502.18028.
The Cassini orbiter, during its mission to Saturn, first detected plumes of water-ice erupting from fissures in Enceladus. These plumes, it seems, are responsible for the creation of these celestial rainbows. The discovery was made by a team led by Niels Rubbrecht, who found distinct stripe-like features around Enceladus in old Cassini images.
These space rainbows, or reflection gratings as they are called, are not just a one-off occurrence. The observations span almost a year and a half, suggesting that this curious phenomenon persists for at least that time. The relative positions of these parallel stripes were consistent between different images, angled around 16° to the plane of the Solar System. They were only apparent in two other Enceladus fly-bys, in December 2010 and May 2012.
The separate bands making up the stripes appear to shift in position slightly when examined in different wavelengths of light. The bright band visible in Cassini images is produced by water-ice crystals with a smattering of carbon dioxide ice, with a wavelength of around 5μm. The particles creating the reflection grating are larger than those in Enceladus' plumes.
This is not the first time optical phenomena similar to those on Earth have been discovered in other worlds. The Venus Express orbiter spotted a ring of refracted sunlight (halo) on Venus' upper cloud layer in 2014. Similarly, the Perseverance rover on Mars has observed hexagonal-shaped ice crystals in Martian clouds creating a similar effect.
However, the cause of these space rainbows around Enceladus remains a mystery. The researchers are unsure why these particles are inclined so far out of Saturn's rings. The particles responsible for the bright band in Cassini images are not found in Enceladus' plumes, leading to the question of their origin.
The researchers who attributed the cause of rainbows in Saturn's E Ring to Enceladus' eruptions include Carolyn Porco and her team. These ice particles make up the diffuse E ring surrounding Saturn. Yet, the connection between the E Ring and the space rainbows around Enceladus is still not fully understood.
As we continue to explore the cosmos, these discoveries serve as a reminder of the wonders that await us in the vast expanse of space. The space rainbows around Enceladus, with their poetic beauty, are a testament to the beauty and complexity of our universe.
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