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Image Texture of Saturn's Rings

Source Notebook

Image texture representing the color and opacity of Saturn's rings

Details

Texture is derived from Voyager, Hubble and Cassini imagery.
Inner and outer radii of the rings covered by the texture are assumed to be 74,510 km and 140,200 km, respectively. This allows the orbits of Pan and Daphnis to fall into their corresponding gaps in the rings.
Additional content elements include:
"Graphics3D"3D graphical object with the texture applied
"TextureImage"image for use as a texture (default)

(4096x2 pixels)

Examples

Basic Examples (1) 

The default element (a 4096x2 image) returns the texture used for the rings:

In[1]:=
ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Image Texture of Saturn's Rings\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Image Texture of Saturn's Rings-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)]
Out[1]=

Scope & Additional Elements

In[2]:=
ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Image Texture of Saturn's Rings\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Image Texture of Saturn's Rings-Input", AutoDelete->True]\), "Graphics3D"]
Out[2]=

Visualizations (1) 

The rings can be combined with a textured sphere of Saturn to provide a complete scene of Saturn and it's rings, including the varying color and opacity of the rings:

In[3]:=
{sattexture, satrad} = Entity["Planet", "Saturn"][{"CylindricalEquidistantTexture", "EquatorialRadius"}];
In[4]:=
Show[Graphics3D[{Texture[sattexture], Sphere[{0, 0, 0}, QuantityMagnitude[satrad, "Meters"]]}], ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Image Texture of Saturn's Rings\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Image Texture of Saturn's Rings-Input", AutoDelete->True]\), "Graphics3D"], Lighting -> "Neutral", Background -> Black]
Out[4]=

Analysis (1) 

The opacity values can be extracted from the image and plotted:

In[5]:=
id = ImageData[ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Image Texture of Saturn's Rings\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Image Texture of Saturn's Rings-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)]];
In[6]:=
ListPlot[ Transpose[{Table[ Rescale[i, {1, 4096}, {74510, 140200}], {i, 1, 4096, 1}], id[[1, All, 4]]}], AspectRatio -> .2, PlotStyle -> AbsolutePointSize[2], Frame -> True, PlotTheme -> "Detailed", FrameLabel -> {"radius in km", "opacity"}]
Out[6]=

Wolfram Research, "Image Texture of Saturn's Rings" from the Wolfram Data Repository (2026)  

Data Resource History

  • Date Created:

Source Metadata

  • Creator: Grant Hutchison's 4K Saturn Rings for Celestia
  • Date: 7 July 2004
  • Citation: Source, reference or citation information

See Also

Publisher Information

  • Prepared for the Wolfram Data Repository By: Jeff Bryant
  • Publisher of Record: Wolfram Research