Saturn’s C ring lets more starlight through than the dense B ring
Inside Saturn’s bright B ring lies the darker, more translucent C ring — a sheet of icy particles so thinly packed that occulted stars and the planet’s own limb often shine through.
Voyager and Cassini measured optical depth dropping sharply from B into C, revealing ringlets, plateaus, and dusty waves. The C ring is still rings, just a lower-mass neighbor closer to the planet.
Transparency is data. Comparing C and B shows how ring density, not only ice purity, sets whether a band looks solid or gauze-thin.
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