Daphnis, the wavemaker

How a small moon sculpts the edges of the Keeler Gap.

Published 2026-10-23

NASA calls Daphnis the “wavemaker moon”.^[2]

How the waves form

Ring particles are pulled toward Daphnis as it passes, then fall back toward the ring.^[1]

Leading and lagging

Material on the inner edge orbits faster than the moon, so those waves lead it; on the outer edge they lag behind.^[1][2]

Out of the plane

Because of Daphnis’s tilted orbit, ring material at the edge of the Keeler Gap is displaced up to 4 km out of the ring plane.^[4]

A tendril

A January 2017 image shows a tendril of ring particles extending toward the moon — perhaps a packet of material Daphnis pulled out of the ring.^[1]

Numbered citations link to the sources list on the Daphnis overview page.