Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.2408d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #24.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.431
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In 2007, the rings of Uranus appeared edge-on as seen from Earth for the first time since their 1977 discovery. Three ring plane crossings (RPX) occurred over a 9.5 months period: 3 May 2007, 16 August 2007, and 20 February 2008. The Sun crossed the ring plane on 7 December 2007 (equinox). We will present RPX observations at 2.2 micrometers obtained with the 10-m Keck, 8-m VLT and 5-m Palomar telescopes. This period includes the RPX on August 16, and observations of the dark (unlit) face of the rings (May-August; December) and the lit side under small ring inclination angles (August-September).
Our first ground-based image of the dark side of the rings of Uranus revealed a system that differs radically from what has been seen before. We saw a cloud of faint dust permeating the ring system. The dust showed no correlation with the well-known narrow rings, and also showed almost no correlation with the embedded dust rings imaged by Voyager. The distribution of dust within the Uranian ring system appears to have changed significantly since the 1986 Voyager flyby; in particular the zeta ring moved outwards by a few 1000 km since the Voyager era (if it is the same ring as seen by Voyager). These first results were confirmed by the newer data.
Dunn et al (2002, Icarus 160, 132-160) developed a model to simulate Saturn's radio emission scattered off Saturn's ring particles. We adapted this model to simulate the Sun's (infrared) light scattered off the rings of Uranus. We will use this model to simulate the time evolution of the main rings during the ring plane crossings. Such simulations enable us to extract information on the individual rings and dust sheets in the system, under small ring inclination angles. We will present first results from this endeavour.
de Pater Imke
Dunn David E.
Fry Patrick
Gibbard Seran G.
Hammel Heidi Beth
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