Formation of Saturn's Rings by Tidal Disruption of a Centaur

Details Formation of Saturn's Rings by Tidal Disruption of a Centaur Formation of Saturn's Rings by Tidal Disruption of a Centaur

May 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dda....39.1807d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #39, #18.07

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Planetary rings owe their existence to tidal forces, which frustrate accretion into larger bodies. Models for ring origin include (a) formation in situ, (b) disruption of a moon by cometary impact, and (c) tidal disruption of an interloping Centaur ([1]). [2] applied model (c) to Saturn's rings, basing his results on analytic expressions and taking Chiron to be a typical Saturn-crosser. Many Saturn-crossers have now been discovered, and our understanding of tidal disruption has advanced, particularly through models of the breakup of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9). [3] treated SL9 as a rubble pile, and modeled its disruption with a fast N-body code that included self-gravity and a simple model of collisions. We are using a modified version of this code to follow the tidal disruption of model Centaurs that pass within Saturn's Roche radius. Our simulations have four free parameters: the Centaur's approach velocity to Saturn (v), closest approach distance to Saturn (q), size (r), and rotation state. Mass capture is favored for events with small v and q, large r, and fast direct rotation ([4]). We will estimate the rate of ring formation by tidal disruption, and will constrain the heliocentric orbits of plausible ring parent bodies. Saturn's B Ring may be much more massive than was previously thought ([5],[6]). We will discuss the implications of a more massive ring system for different origin scenarios. We thank the NASA PGG program for support.
[1] Pollack JB 1975. Space Sci. Rev. 18, 3. [2]Dones L 1991. Icarus 92, 194.
[3] Asphaug E; Benz W 1996. Icarus 121, 225. [4] Richardson DC; Bottke WF; Love SG 1998. Icarus 134, 47.
[5] Robbins SJ; Stewart GR; Colwell JE; Lewis MC 2007. DPS meeting 39, abstract 7.05. [6] Stewart GR; Robbins SJ; Colwell JE 2007. DPS meeting 39, abstract 7.06.

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