Other
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dda....40.0301h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #40, #3.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.896
Other
Scientific paper
Between Day 144 of 2005 and Day 351 of 2008, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft obtained 41 high-quality occultation cuts through the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings. The position of the edges of all the gaps (and detached ringlets) were measured for all of these occultations. We find that all the gaps that do not contain dense ringlets have nearly circular outer edges, while all the other edges exhibit significant variations in their radial locations. As expected based on earlier Voyager and Cassini observations (Porco et al. 1984, Spitale et al. 2006), we find that the outer edge of the B ring has a large m=2 component due to the nearby 2:1 resonance with Mimas. However, detailed studies of this pattern suggest that the orientation of the B-ring edge slowly drifts or librates relative to Mimas. There is also some evidence for other perturbations on this edge (cf. Spitale et al. 2006). Meanwhile, the inner edge of the outermost gap in the Cassini division has an m=5 component that may be associated with the nearby 5:4 inner Lindblad resonance with Prometheus. Intriguingly, the inner edges of all the remaining named gaps (which do not fall near known first-order resonances with any moon) can be well-fit with simple ellipses that precess around Saturn at approximately the expected rates given their distances from Saturn center (one of these edges was already modeled in this way in Flynn and Cuzzi 1989). The pattern speeds of the observed eccentric edges form a quasi-regular series with a characteristic spacing of approximately 0.05-0.07 degrees/day. A possible explanation for this regularity is presented in an accompanying abstract by Nicholson et al.
Hedman Matthew M.
Nicholson Philip D.
VIMS Team
No associations
LandOfFree
The Architecture of the Cassini Division. I 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 The Architecture of the Cassini Division. I, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Architecture of the Cassini Division. I will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-808650