Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments

Details Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufm.p53a1463b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #P53A-1463

Physics

5759 Rings And Dust, 6265 Planetary Rings, 6275 Saturn

Scientific paper

During Cassini's successful orbital insertion manuever at Saturn its Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) obtained thermal spectra of Saturn's rings at a range of geometries not seen since the Voyager flybys. CIRS is a Fourier-transform spectrometer that measures infrared radiation from 7 microns out to 1 millimeter (1400 to 10 cm-1 ). Of the main rings, the A Ring was observed at the greatest range of phase and emission angles during Saturn orbit insertion. Scans of the lit and unlit sides of the A Ring were obtained at a spectral resolution of 15.5 cm-1 and at low ( ˜ 60o ) and intermediate ( ˜ 130o - 140o ) phase angles. The infrared interferometer spectrometer (IRIS) experiments aboard Voyagers 1 and 2 also obtained thermal spectra of the rings. IRIS, the predecessor of the CIRS instrument, is a Michelson interferometer that records spectra between 4 and 55.5 μ m (2500 to 180 cm-1 ). Spectra of the lit and unlit A Ring with a resolution of 4.3 cm-1 were obtained at phase angles somewhat lower than CIRS SOI scans ( ˜ 30o ) and at intermediate phase angles comparable to those observed by CIRS. We will interpret Cassini observations of the A Ring in the context of the earlier Voyager observations. A Ring brightness temperatures retrieved from the SOI scans clearly show a dependence on viewing geometry, varying by ˜ 10 K . The wide range of viewing geometries provided by the two sets of observations will allow us to determine the effect of viewing geometry on the ring's brightness temperature. By separating out such viewing geometry effects, we can constrain the physical properties of the ring as a whole as well as those of its constituent particles. Additionally, the time separation between the CIRS and IRIS observations will allow us to identify any changes in ring temperatures between the Voyager and Cassini epochs as might be expected from, for example, differences in solar elevation angle.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Saturn's A Ring as Seen by the Voyager IRIS and Cassini CIRS Experiments will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1454577