Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6102d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #61.02
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Initial measurements of the crater size-frequency distribution (SFD) on the young South Polar Terrain on Enceladus (Bierhaus et al., this meeting) suggest an SFD with a shallow slope [b < 3 in the relation dN = k D(-b) dD, where dN is the number of craters on the terrain with diameters between D and D + dD, and k and b are constants] for craters less than a few km in diameter. This SFD is consistent with the estimated small crater SFD derived from Jupiter's youthful moon Europa, and implies that the current flux of objects through the Saturnian and Jovian systems has a shallow slope. This, in turn, suggests that the population of ecliptic comets, the primary impactors on the regular moons of the giant planets, has a shallow slope for bodies with diameters of order 100 meters. We will discuss whether this size distribution is likely to reflect the source population in the Kuiper Belt/Scattered Disk, or whether it could result from cometary disruption 10 AU from the Sun.
We thank the Cassini Data Analysis Program for support.
Bierhaus Edward B.
Dones Henry C. (Luke)
Zahnle Kevin J.
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