Dynamics and Fate of Dust from the Irregular Satellites at Uranus and Neptune

Details Dynamics and Fate of Dust from the Irregular Satellites at Uranus and Neptune Dynamics and Fate of Dust from the Irregular Satellites at Uranus and Neptune

Apr 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011dda....42.0707t&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #42, #7.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Spitzer has discovered a vast outer dust ring at Saturn (Verbiscer et al. 2009) apparently sourced from Saturn's largest irregular satellite Phoebe and likely coating Iapetus (Tamayo et al., 2011). This raises the question of whether similar rings might be detectable at Uranus and Neptune. We study the dynamics of dust arising off the irregular satellites in these systems, drawing comparisons to particle histories in the Saturn system. Particles are subject to radiation forces that cause the smallest particles to be lost onto heliocentric paths or strike the host planet. Most of the larger particles decay toward their central planet, and eventually strike the various inner regular-satellite surfaces. We undertake a numerical investigation to determine the final distribution of dust in these systems. We find that in the Uranian system, for a wide variety of plausible initial conditions, the majority of the dust strikes the outermost regular moon Oberon, with a small fraction reaching Titania. At Neptune, we find that Triton sweeps up nearly all the long-lived dust particles generated outside its orbit. Finally, we estimate the longitudinal reach of dust onto the satellites’ trailing sides as a result of particle-orbit eccentricities.

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