Origin and Evolution of Saturn's Small Satellites

Details Origin and Evolution of Saturn's Small Satellites Origin and Evolution of Saturn's Small Satellites

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.5208c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #52.08

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

All Saturn’ small satellites, orbiting below Mimas'orbit, share some common physical and dynamical properties : they have strong water absorption bands (Poulet & Cuzzi, 2002 Icarus 160, 350-358, Cuzzi et al., in press) , they have strange and elongated shapes and are under dense (Charnoz et al, 2007 Science 318, 1622, Porco et al. 2007 Science 318, 1602). They are also dynamically coupled with Saturn rings. In addition, due to their small size, they should not be primordial because of the meteoroid bombardment. They dynamically evolve under the tidal torque of the planet and the rings, in addition to satellite's perturbations. A theory of their origin still needs to be done.
We show in the present work that these small satellites may be the natural result of the viscous spreading of Saturn's rings. Using a new 1D coupled hydrodynamic + dynamical evolution code, we compute that the rings viscous spreading may naturally form a population of 10-50 km size satellites, with and orbital organisation similar to the today population of small satellites. Self-regulation processes are at work limiting the maximum mass of small satellite to about the mass of Janus, consistently with observations.
This satellite formation scenario of a new kind (due to the viscous spreading of a disk) seems to explain the composition, the shape, the total mass, and the low density of Saturn's small satellites. It would give also an interesting explanation to the origin of the F ring.
In conclusion, Saturn's small satellites may be considered as a specific category of satellites whose origin is very different either from Saturn's main satellites of Saturn's captured satellites. They could be the "children” of the rings.

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