Examining and Defining the Structure of Saturn’s B-ring

Beta Centauri is one of the brightest stars observed by Cassini’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) stellar occultation experiment. 15 occultation traces of Beta Centauri were performed with a high elevation angle above the Saturn ring plane. Combining the high elevation and strong stellar signal from these occultations allows for strong constraints to be made on the transparency of high optical depth regions. The highest optical depth regions are located in Saturn’s B-ring, and specifically the B2 region of this ring. We are examining the high optical depth regions of Saturn’s B-ring to look for significant structure across the extent of the ring plane and to catalog these changes for further analysis. These regions are also defined by non-repeating, narrow regions of translucence where the observed transparency fluctuates from less than 1% to 20%. These features are called “phantoms” and are scattered throughout the otherwise opaque regions of Saturn’s B-ring. We will describe the characteristics and distribution of both the opaque regions and their accompanying phantoms.