Other
Scientific paper
Sep 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.1818h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #18.18; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1127
Other
Scientific paper
We have shown that most of the observed properties of this region (radial extent 3-8 R_S, vertical extent 6000 - 40000 km with a minima at the orbit of Enceladus and a size distribution that sharply peaks at around 1mu m in grain radius) are due to magnetospheric effects (Horanyi et al, Icarus 97, 248, 1992). The orbital precession rates caused by Saturns' oblateness and the Lorentz force on grains =~ 1 mu m in radius were shown to be approximately equal in magnitude but opposite in sign at Enceladus' distance. This near cancellation allows solar radiation pressure to induce large periodic changes in the orbital eccentricity of these particles. The charge to mass ratio of smaller or bigger grains will not result in a cancellation of their precession rates and these grains will not spread as swiftly as 1 mu m sized particles do. These ideas were developed further to account for the other moons as possible sources due to the self-generation of dust from the impacts of high velocity E-ring particles onto these moons themselves (Hamilton and Burns, Science 264, 550, 1994). However, the expected secondary peaks in brightness due to the contribution of the moons other than Enceladus - owing to bombardment by interplanetary micro-meteorites and/or the self-supporting mechanism - were not seen in the recent HST edge-on observations (Nicholson et al, Science 272, 509, 1996). Here we present our most recent E-ring simulation results based on the best available 3D plasma model of the region (Richardson, GRL 22, 1177, 1995). The simulations yield an improved match with the observed radial and vertical distribution of the grains assuming Enceladus to be the only important source of dust particles. This indicates that Enceladus does have special surface properties, compared to the other nearby moons, with a much higher dust production yield and/or Enceladus itself is active producing dust particles.
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