An upper limit on the sizes of shepherding satellites at Saturn's ring G

Details An upper limit on the sizes of shepherding satellites at Saturn's ring G An upper limit on the sizes of shepherding satellites at Saturn's ring G

Feb 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987jgr....92.1153v&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 92, Feb. 1, 1987, p. 1153-1159.

Statistics

Computation

8

Magnetically Trapped Particles, Natural Satellites, Particle Size Distribution, Saturn Rings, Computational Astrophysics, Orbital Elements, Range (Extremes), Saturn, Satellites, Shepherd Satellites, Ring G, Rings, Absorption, Size, Energetic Particles, Magnetosphere, Radius, Theoretical Studies, Spacecraft Observations, Pioneer 11, Diagrams, Calculations

Scientific paper

An accurate analytical theory of the absorption of energetic magnetospheric particles by an inert satellite is developed for the case in which the radius b of the satellite is much less than the equatorial gyroradius rg of the particles and in which rg is in turn much less than the radius r of the satellite's orbit. In previous interpretations of Pioneer 11 observations an estimate of the lifetime against absorption of energetic protons (E > 80 MeV) at Saturn's ring G has been made. This lifetime is used in the framework of the absorption theory to establish an upper limit on the sizes of shepherding satellites associated with the ring. The resulting upper limit, ignoring the absorption of the optically observed particulate matter, is ΣNi=1 b2i = 6 km2 (uncertain by a factor of 2) for an assemblage of N satellites of various radii bi. It is noted that ring G lies outside the Roche limit. No shepherding satellites at ring G were detected optically by Voyagers 1 and 2, though the lower limit of sensitivity of this technique was b ≈ 10 km for an albedo exceeding 0.1 and the searches were not comprehensive in longitudinal coverage.

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