Physical Properties of Saturn's Rings from Cassini Radio Occultations

Details Physical Properties of Saturn's Rings from Cassini Radio Occultations Physical Properties of Saturn's Rings from Cassini Radio Occultations

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.2402m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #24.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.429

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Twenty-four one-sided Cassini radio occultation observations have been successfully completed. Two types of observations provide information about physical ring properties. The first is differential extinction of three sinusoidal signals simultaneously transmitted through the rings (0.94, 3.6, and 13 cm-wavelength). The observations reveal remarkable variability among the three main rings, A, B, and C, and across local features within each ring. Assuming "classical” ring model and solid water ice composition, comparison of observed differential optical depth with theoretical predictions based on a power-law size distribution constrains the power law index and the minimum radius of abundant particle sizes. In particular, the smallest particle radius in most of Ring C, inner Ring B, and outer ring A appear to be limited to about 4 to 5 mm, and in regions B2 and B4 of Ring B, and in the inner region of Ring A to be greater than few tens of centimeters. The second observation type is the near-forward scattered signal. The measured spectrograms provide characterization of the collective diffraction pattern of the particles and particle clusters. In ring regions where gravitational wakes are likely absent, inversion of the spectral measurement yields the size distribution of particles of radius > about 1 m. The results are consistent with the Voyager results, showing sharp upper size cutoff in the few to several meters radius range. In regions of gravitational wakes, we constrain physical ring properties using comparisons of the observations with predictions of Monte-Carlo simulations of extinction and near-forward diffraction by randomly blocked diffraction screen ring models. The comparisons constrain particle cluster sizes, spatial density, orientation, and ring vertical thickness. The simulations also allow for investigation of physical ring models that account in a self-consistent manner for observed variation of optical depth and forward scattering with ring opening angle and ring longitude.

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