Internal Structure of Rhea and Enceladus

Details Internal Structure of Rhea and Enceladus Internal Structure of Rhea and Enceladus

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p31d..06s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P31D-06

Mathematics

Logic

6019 Gravitational Fields (1221), 6024 Interiors (8147), 6040 Origin And Evolution

Scientific paper

The mass and quadrupole gravitational coefficients of Rhea, determined from a close flyby of the satellite by the Cassini spacecraft, have been used to infer the density and axial moment of inertia of Rhea, 1232.8 ± 5.3 kg m-3 and 0.3911 ± 0.0045, respectively. The density implies a mass fraction of about 25% rock-metal and 75% water ice by mass and the moment of inertia suggests a nearly homogeneous mixture of these constituents in Rhea's interior. Rhea's triaxial shape is consistent with a homogeneous body in hydrostatic equilibrium; Rhea's surface is consistent with that of a heavily cratered and largely undifferentiated body. Enceladus (mean radius 252.1~km), though much smaller than Rhea (mean radius 764.4~km), is likely differentiated into a large rock-metal core (radius about 150 to 170~km) surrounded by a water ice shell. Enceladus, with a density of 1608~kg~m-3, has a mass fraction of rock that is about twice that of Rhea. The inference of a differentiated Enceladus is based largely on the geological evidence since the moon's gravitational coefficients remain unknown. The shape of Enceladus is consistent with the equilibrium shape of a differentiated body rotating somewhat faster than the present rate. Numerical simulations show that Enceladus could have been easily differentiated early in its evolution by ^{26}Al heating.

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