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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.ns-2.45.764-b | DOI Listing |
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci
February 2025
LIRA, CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université ParisCité, CY Cergy Paris Université, Meudon 92190, France.
Obtained images from the Cassini spacecraft have unveiled several small satellites in the vicinity of Mimas' orbit: Aegaeon, Methone and Anthe. Methone and Anthe are situated within arcs of material, while Aegaeon orbits within an arc near the inner edge of Saturn's G ring. The presence of these arcs and moons is consistent with their confinement by corotation eccentric resonance (CER) with Mimas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Geosci
December 2024
Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France.
Saturn's rings have been estimated to be as young as about 100 to 400 million years old according to the hypothesis that non-icy micrometeoroid bombardment acts to darken the rings over time and the Cassini observation indicated that the ring particles appear to be relatively clean. These young age estimates assume that the rings formed out of pure water ice particles with a high accretion efficiency of impacting non-icy micrometeoroid material ( ≳ 10%). Here we show, using numerical simulations of hypervelocity micrometeoroid impacts on a ring particle, that non-icy material may not be as readily accreted as previously thought.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpace Sci Rev
July 2024
Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut St, Boulder, CO 80302 USA.
Saturn's mid-sized icy moons have complex relationships with Saturn's interior, the rings, and with each other, which can be expressed in their shapes, interiors, and geology. Observations of their physical states can, thus, provide important constraints on the ages and formation mechanism(s) of the moons, which in turn informs our understanding of the formation and evolution of Saturn and its rings. Here, we describe the cratering records of the mid-sized moons and the value and limitations of their use for constraining the histories of the moons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the stranger planetary rings is Saturn's narrow, clumpy F ring, lying just outside the main rings, in a region disturbed by chaotic orbital dynamics. We show that the F ring has a stable "true core" that dominates its mass and is confined into discontinuous short arcs of particles larger than a few millimeters in radius. The more obvious micron-size particles seen in images, outlining and obscuring the true core, contribute only a small fraction of its mass.
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