The fine structure of the Saturnian ring system

Details The fine structure of the Saturnian ring system The fine structure of the Saturnian ring system

Aug 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983m%26p....29...39h&link_type=abstract

Moon and the Planets (ISSN 0165-0807), vol. 29, Aug. 1983, p. 39-46.

Other

11

Fine Structure, Gas Giant Planets, Planetary Structure, Saturn Rings, Density Wave Model, Dust, Planetary Magnetospheres, Plasma Currents, Space Plasmas

Scientific paper

A dust disk within a planetary magnetosphere constitutes a novel type of dust-ring current. Such an azimuthal current carrying dust disk is subject to the dusty plasma analog of the well known finite-resistivity 'tearing' mode instability in regular plasma current sheets, at long wavelengths. It is proposed that the presently observed fine ringlet of the Saturnian ring system is a relic of this process operating at cosmogonic times and breaking up the initial proto-ring (which may be regarded as an admixture of fine dust and plasma) into an ensemble of thin ringlets. It is shown that this instability develops at a rate that is many orders of magnitude faster than any other known instability, when the disk thickness reaches a value that is comparable to its present observed value.

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