Will new rings be seen when the Sun backlights Saturn?

Updated Sept. 21: The answer is yes.

"After more than two years orbiting Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft [reached] one of its ultimate vantage points [on Sept. 15].

"The event is a solar occultation -- when the Sun passes directly behind the planet as Cassini looks on. And this was not just any solar occultation: it was a very long one. [Cassini has already sent several images from this event. They began to arrive on Sunday. --Ed.]

"The Cassini spacecraft was right where scientists studying the rings wanted it: far enough from Saturn to be able to image it all and, more importantly, with the Sun blocked by the planet for 12 hours -- long enough to properly map the elusive, microscopic particles moving within the extended ring system.

"Thanks to the slow occultation, images taken during this carefully designed orbit may also uncover new ring structures and, at the very least, capture truly spectacular views of the D, F, G and E rings."

Images like these, for example:









That isn't all.

Cassini is scheduled to make a flyby less than 1000km (~600 miles) above Saturn's moon Titan on Saturday. The last such maneuver on Sept. 7 provided evidence of methane or ethane lakes on Titan's surface. A stinky yet intriguing prospect.

There's a follow-up to this post:
"Saturn occults the Sun, and other sights"