Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0709e&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #7.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.421
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Scientific paper
Estimates of meteoroid pollution on Saturn's rings give a very short lifetime. However, Mimas’ bright icy surface provides a counterexample, since it is known to be ancient. Even coating by icy material from Enceladus is insufficient to completely remove the meteoritic spectrum on the rings. Both surfaces of moons and rings can appear youthful if the meteoritic flux is over-estimated or the rings mass is under-estimated. We present Markov chain models of regolith growth that show how a massive ring can reset the pollution clock by re-cycling material from the interiors of the largest bodies in the ring. The rings can be ancient if the ring mass is much greater than Mimas mass, or the meteoritic infall is much less than estimated by Cuzzi and Estrada (1998), or both. Evidence from Cassini UVIS star occultations by Colwell etal (2007) shows the B ring mass may be significantly under-estimated. We present our conclusions about ring history.
Elliott Joshua P.
Esposito W. L. W. L.
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