ringshine

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noun

Sunlight that is reflected from the ring around a planet (such as the one around Saturn), visible on the night side of the planet.

Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounringshine (uncountable)
  1. uncountableastronomySunlight that is reflected from the ring around a planet (such as the one around Saturn), visible on the night side of the planet.

    The spacecraft photographed the planet's sunlit crescent, the ring shadows falling on the planet, and Saturn's dark hemisphere illuminated by "ringshine."

    1980, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Voyager 1 encounters Saturn, page 33
    2 more examples

    One, the ``dragon storm, is shown in Figure 5.28 (see color section), while another example, on Saturn's night side, but illuminated by ``ringshine (i.e., light reflected from Saturn's rings) is shown in Figure 5.29.

    2009, Patrick Irwin, Giant Planets of Our Solar System, →ISBN, page 197

    Elephant juddered briefly, making the insertion burn, and then they were racing around the dark side of Saturn, faintly illuminated by the ghost light of ringshine.

    2009, Paul McAuley, Gardens of the Sun, →ISBN

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
ringlight

Origin

From ring + shine.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ringshine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringshine

MLA

“ringshine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringshine. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ringshine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringshine.

Source: ringshine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.