Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010apj...718l.176b&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 718, Issue 2, pp. L176-L180 (2010).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
8
Instabilities, Planets And Satellites: Dynamical Evolution And Stability, Planets And Satellites: Formation, Planets And Satellites: Rings, Planet-Disk Interactions
Scientific paper
New images from the Cassini spacecraft reveal optically thick clumps, capable of casting shadows, and associated structures in regions of Saturn's F ring that have recently experienced close passage by the adjacent moon Prometheus. Using these images and modeling, we show that Prometheus' perturbations create regions of enhanced density and low relative velocity that are susceptible to gravitational instability and the formation of distended, yet long-lived, gravitationally coherent clumps. Subsequent collisional damping of these low-density clumps may facilitate their collapse into ~10-20 km contiguous moonlets. The observed behavior of the F ring is analogous to the case of a marginally stable gas disk being driven to instability and collapse via perturbations from an embedded gas giant planet.
Agnor Craig Bruce
Beurle Kevin
Cooper Nathaniel J.
Evans Michael W.
Murray Carl D.
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