Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dda....41.1102h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #41, #11.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.939
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In August of 2009 the sun passed through Saturn's equatorial plane, so Saturn's rings were illuminated from almost exactly edge-on. This unusual lighting geometry revealed a subtle corrugation extending throughout the entire C ring. Images of this structure obtained by the cameras onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal that this corrugation has an amplitude of only a few meters and a wavelength that steadily increases with distance from the planet, ranging from 30 km near the C-ring's inner edge at 75,000 km from Saturn center to about 80 km at 92,000 km, just interior to the B-ring's inner edge. The overall radial trend in the corrugation's wavelength indicates that this structure, --like a similar corrugation previously identified in the D ring (Hedman et al. 2007 Icarus 188:89-107)-- is the result of differential nodal regression within an initially inclined ring and is sensitive to the higher-order moments of Saturn's gravity field. Small residuals from this overall trend can be ascribed to the finite surface mass density of the C ring. If our interpretation of this structure is correct, then the entire C ring was slightly tilted out of Saturn's equator plane in the early 1980s. Possible explanations for how the ring might have been disturbed at this time will be explored.
Burns Joseph A.
Hedman Matthew M.
Porco Carolyn C.
Tiscareno Matthew S.
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