Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 1977
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977icar...30..104g&link_type=abstract
Icarus, vol. 30, Jan. 1977, p. 104-110.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
8
Astronomical Models, Planetary Composition, Radar Astronomy, Saturn Rings, Depolarization, Doppler Effect, Ice, Microwave Spectra, Particle Size Distribution, Radar Echoes, Scattering Cross Sections, Spectrum Analysis
Scientific paper
Results are reported for a two-frequency dual-polarization radar-echo study of Saturn's rings which involved monostatic operation at a wavelength of 3.5 cm and bistatic operation at 12.6 cm. The radar observations show that the rings effectively depolarize linearly and circularly polarized incident waves at the two wavelengths; that the ring particles are unusually efficient radar reflectors, yielding approximately the same high total cross section at both wavelengths; and that there is an apparent excess of power at the 'central' Doppler shifts when compared with homogeneous scattering models based on the optically observed ring distributions. Several possible explanations for these three radar properties are considered. It is found that a model which hypothesizes a thick cloud of irregular water-ice chunks a few centimeters or larger in radius and a model which postulates a monolayer of multimeter-sized water-frost-coated metallic chunks both seem capable of explaining the first two radar properties. But no consistent explanation is found for the excess low-frequency spectral power.
Campbell Don B.
Goldstein Raymond M.
Green Richard
Pettengill Gordon H.
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