Self-gravity wake parameters in Saturn’s A and B rings

Details Self-gravity wake parameters in Saturn’s A and B rings Self-gravity wake parameters in Saturn’s A and B rings

Apr 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010icar..206..410n&link_type=abstract

Icarus, Volume 206, Issue 2, p. 410-423.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

6

Scientific paper

An increasing body of evidence shows that, at the sub-km level, Saturn’s main A and B rings are dominated by an ever-changing pattern of elongated, canted structures known as self-gravity wakes. Best known for causing azimuthal variations in the rings’ reflectivity, these structures also have a profound influence on how the transmission of the rings varies with both longitude and opening angle, B (Colwell et al. [2006] Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, 7201; Colwell et al. [2007] Icarus 190, 127-144; Hedman et al. [2007] Astron. J. 133, 2624-2629). We use data from three stellar occultations observed by Cassini’s Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) to measure the transmission of the rings as a function of B, when viewed parallel to the wakes. These data are used to constrain properties of the self-gravity wakes as a function of radius across the A and B rings: specifically the fractional width of the gaps between the wakes, G/λ, and the average normal optical depth in the gaps, τ. We find that the overall normal optical depth of the rings, τ is primarily controlled by G/λ, which varies between <0.05 and ˜0.70 in the A and B rings. The gaps, however, are not completely empty, being filled by material — possibly cm-sized ring particles — with an average normal optical depth which varies from 0.12 to ˜0.4. In addition to regional variations, local variations in τ are seen in the regular structure which dominates the inner B ring, and in the environs of strong density waves in the A ring. The same model applied to the lower optical depth Cassini Division reveals very little evidence of self-gravity wakes, except where τ exceeds ˜0.25.

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