Ring Equinox Temperature Variations from Cassini CIRS

Details Ring Equinox Temperature Variations from Cassini CIRS Ring Equinox Temperature Variations from Cassini CIRS

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.2207s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #22.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.989

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Cassini's Composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) retrieved the temperatures of Saturn's main rings at equinox as the sun traversed from the south to north side of the rings. At equinox the solar input is very small and the primary heat sources for the rings are Saturn thermal and visible energy. The main rings cooled to their lowest temperatures measured to date. The ring temperatures at equinox were: C ring, 55-75 K; B ring, 45-60 K; Cassini Division, 45 - 58 K; and A ring, 43 - 52 K.
The equinox geometry is unique because Saturn heating dominates, contrasted to earlier in the mission when the primary heat source is light from the sun. Equinox temperatures are almost identical for similar geometries on the north and south sides of the main rings. Overall, the temperatures decrease with increasing distance from the planet as expected but each ring displays a slightly different behavior. For the C ring the temperature varies slightly with the Saturn local time on the particle while the temperature for the densest part of the B ring does not vary with changing geometry. Equinox results will be presented.
This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA and at CEA Saclay supported by the CNES and CEA. Copyright 2010 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.

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