Observational effects of an inclined F ring: Eclipses and occultations

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

During the 1995 Saturn ring-plane crossing, Saturn occulted the star GSC5249-01240 (Bosh and Olkin 1996, BAAS, 28, 1124). At this time the ring opening angle was approximately 3 deg, resulting in unusually high sensitivity to inclined features. A fit of the F ring from this and previous events resulted in the first detection of an inclined feature in Saturn's rings (Olkin and Bosh 1996, BAAS, 28, 1125). We find that because the F ring is inclined it in turn blocks and is blocked by the A ring when the rings are in a near edge-on configuration. (Near solar ring-plane crossing, the F ring is instead eclipsed by the main rings.) The degree of obscuration and where it occurs depends on the location of the node of the F ring, which regresses due to Saturn's non-spherical gravity field. This mutual occultation will have an effect on the observed brightness of the rings when near ring-plane crossing and may effect the derived crossing times (Nicholson, French, and Bosh, this conference). Given our current kinematic model for the F ring, we detail the evolution of F ring obscuration near each of the 4 ring-plane crossings in 1995-1996.

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