Saturn's Gravitational Field, Internal Rotation, and Interior Structure

Details Saturn's Gravitational Field, Internal Rotation, and Interior Structure Saturn's Gravitational Field, Internal Rotation, and Interior Structure

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0406s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #4.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.414

Physics

Geophysics

Scientific paper

Cassini gravitational data and Pioneer and Voyager radio occultation and wind data have been used to infer the rotation rate and structure of Saturn's deep interior. By minimizing the dynamical height excursions of the 100 mbar isosurface with respect to a reference geoid, we obtain a Saturnian rotation period of 10h 32m 35s ± 13s. This more rapid spin, compared with the rotation rate inferred from Saturn's kilometric radiation, implies a more benign atmospheric wind system than previously thought, with slower equatorial winds and both eastward and westward winds at higher latitudes, as on Jupiter. The reference geoid we obtain has an equatorial radius of 60,356.2 km ± 2.6 km and a mean polar radius of 54,437.6 km ± 1.9 km. The above data and inferred rotation rate are associated with an internal structure that we model with a sixth-degree polynomial in fractional radius. The polynomial representation of density and pressure versus depth yields an observational equation of state, density versus pressure, that has a molecular to metallic hydrogen transition about halfway to the planet's center. The polynomial smooths out any compositionally distinct core that might exist at the center of Saturn. This research was supported by NASA under grants from the Planetary Atmospheres and Planetary Geology and Geophysics Programs and by the Cassini Project through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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