Morphology and variability of the Titan ringlet and Huygens ringlet edges

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

1

Scientific paper

We present a forward modeling approach for determining, in part, the ring particle spatial distribution in the vicinity of sharp ring or ringlet edges. Synthetic edge occultation profiles are computed based on a two-parameter particle spatial distribution model. One parameter, h, characterizes the vertical extent of the ring and the other, δ, characterizes the radial scale over which the ring optical depth transitions from the background ring value to zero. We compare our synthetic occultation profiles to high resolution stellar occultation light curves observed by the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) High Speed Photometer (HSP) for occultations by the Titan ringlet and Huygens ringlet edges.More than 100 stellar occultations of the Huygens ringlet and Titan ringlet edges were studied, comprising 343 independent occultation cuts of the edges of these two ringlets. In 237 of these profiles the measured light-curve was fit well with our two-parameter edge model. Of the remaining edge occultations, 69 contained structure that could only be fit with extremely large values of the ring-plane vertical thickness (h > 1 km) or by adopting a different model for the radial profile of the ring optical depth. An additional 37 could not be fit by our two-parameter model.Certain occultations at low ring-plane incidence angles as well as occultations nearly tangent to the ring edge allow the direct measurement of the radial scale over which the particle packing varies at the edge of the ringlet. In 24 occultations with these particular viewing geometries, we find a wide variation in the radial scale of the edge. We are able to constrain the vertical extent of the rings at the edge to less than ˜300 m in the 70% of the occultations with appropriate viewing geometry, however tighter constraints could not be placed on h due to the weaker sensitivity of the occultation profile to vertical thickness compared to its sensitivity to δ.Many occultations of a single edge could not be fit to a single value of δ, indicating large temporal or azimuthal variability, although the azimuthal variation in δ with respect to the longitudes of various moons in the system did not show any discernible pattern.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Morphology and variability of the Titan ringlet and Huygens ringlet edges does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Morphology and variability of the Titan ringlet and Huygens ringlet edges, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Morphology and variability of the Titan ringlet and Huygens ringlet edges will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-742274

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.