Astonishing close-up images of Saturn's rings, captured by NASA's Cassini space probe during its final year exploring the giant planet, could help to shed new light on the formation of our solar system.
The data, collected using four of Cassini's instruments, show the rings in more detail than ever before.
They reveal distinct textures - clumpy, smooth and streaky - and make it clear that these textures occur in belts with sharp boundaries.
The scientists also discovered tiny moons nestled in and near Saturn's rings, formed from ring material that has settled onto denser core.
The data has been used to create new maps that reveal how colours, chemistry and temperature change across the rings.
"It's like turning the power up one more notch on what we could see in the rings. Everyone just got a clearer view of what's going on," said Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker.
"Getting that extra resolution answered many questions, but so many tantalising ones remain."
The data reveals that the rings - which are composed of water ice, ammonia ice and methane ice - are much younger than the planet itself.
It also provides a window into the way planets form in the giant rings of dust and debris that circle newborn stars.
However, scientists still don't understand who the different textures and patterns formed, or why they occur in belts.
"We see so much more, and closer up, and we're getting new and more interesting puzzles," said NASA's Ames Research Center's Jeff Cuzzi.
The data analysed was gathered during the Ring Grazing Orbits (December 2016 to April 2017) and the Grand Finale (April to September 2017), when Cassini flew just above Saturn's cloud tops.
As the spacecraft was running out of fuel, the mission team deliberately plunged it into the planet's atmosphere in September 2017.
The research has been published in Science .
