How was the Cassini division created in Saturn's rings?

Question

How was the Cassini division created in Saturn's rings?

Answer 1

Small moonlets in the rings keep the rings in set orbits, and clear a space along their orbital paths, creating a cleared area of the ring, which is what the Cassini division is.

Answer 2

Itwas swept out by moonlets, called sheparding moons.

Answer 3

From earth the Cassini Division appears as a thin black gap in the rings of Saturn. However, Voyager discovered that the gap is itself populated by a fair amount of ring material. The division may appear bright in views of the unlit side of the rings, since the relatively low density of material allows more light to be transmitted through the thickness of the rings.

The inner edge of the Cassini Division is governed by a strong orbital resonance. Ring particles at this location orbit twice for every orbit of the moon Mimas. The resonance causes Mimas' pulls on these ring particles to accumulate, destabilizing their orbits and leading to a sharp cutoff in ring density. Many of the other gaps between ringlets within the Cassini Division, however, are unexplained.

HTH

Charles