Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Nov 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998icar..136...50r&link_type=abstract
Icarus, Volume 136, Issue 1, pp. 50-59.
Physics
Optics
10
Scientific paper
High angular resolution (adaptive optics) images taken on August 12, 1995 between 11:26 and 12:23 (UT) show a faint elongated structure apparently moving away from Saturn. The structure is consistent with light scattered by an arc of particles on a Keplerian orbit close to that of Enceladus. The orbit is slightly inclined (1.8 deg), and the arc is 76 deg ahead of the satellite. It appears to be a transient phenomenon since the arc brightness decreased by almost a factor two during the observations, and no such structure was observed at the same orbital position two days before. A possible explanation is that a large block of ice previously ejected by Enceladus collided with ice fragments trapped on the satellite orbit near its L_4 Lagrange point. The collision likely occurred about 6 h before observations started and produced a rapidly expanding cloud of small particles. We estimate the total mass of particles to be at least 10^5 kg.
Graves Elon J.
Northcott Malcolm J.
Roddier Claude
Roddier Francois
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