Saturn’s Curiously Corrugated C Ring

Hedman, M. M.; Burns, Joseph A.; Evans, Michael; Tiscareno, Matthew S.; Porco, C. C.

doi:10.1126/science.1202238

Cited by 31 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This twisting of orbits is faster closer to the planet, leading to a warp, and if the twisting goes on, to a wavelike vertical corrugation pattern (see the fi gure). Such a pattern, with wavelengths decreasing inversely proportional to time, describes well the corrugations reported ( 6,7), although the small amplitude of the patterns requires the advantage of very special observational geometries.…”

supporting

confidence: 54%

“…Nevertheless, the most striking twisted disks reside in our solar system. This is vividly demonstrated by Hedman et al ( 6) and Showalter et al ( 7) on pages 708 and 711 of this issue, analyzing the vertical corrugation patterns in the rings of Saturn and Jupiter with imaging data from the Cassini and Galileo/New Horizon spacecrafts, respectively. The new data confi rms the previously suspected ( 8) vertical undulations in Jupiter's main ring.…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

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Twisted Disks

Salo

2011

Science

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supporting

confidence: 54%

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Twisted Disks

Salo

2011

Science

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“…As in that work, an important consideration for this step in the analysis is that patterns generated by differential nodal regression or differential apsidal precession have wavelengths that vary systematically and continuously with distance from the planet (see Section 2 above). In particular, we expect these wavelengths to scale roughly as r 9=2 (indeed this was true for the corrugations in the C ring, see Hedman et al 2011). As can be seen in Figs.…”

Section: From Profiles To Wavelength and Amplitude Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The top panel shows the wavenumber estimates fromHedman et al (2011) versus radius, along with the D-ring wavenumber derived in this paper (in green). The curve shows the predicted trend assuming that all these rings tilted at the same time and that the planet's gravity field is perfectly described by theJacobson et al (2006) model.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Corrugations and eccentric spirals in Saturn’s D ring: New insights into what happened at Saturn in 1983

Hedman

Burns

Showalter

2015

Icarus

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a b s t r a c tPrevious investigations of Saturn's outer D ring (73,000 km from Saturn's center) identified periodic brightness variations whose radial wavenumber increased linearly over time. This pattern was attributed to a vertical corrugation, and its temporal variability implied that some event -possibly an impact with interplanetary debris -caused the ring to become tilted out the planet's equatorial plane in 1983. This work examines these patterns in greater detail using a more extensive set of Cassini images in order to obtain additional insights into the 1983 event. These additional data reveal that the D ring is not only corrugated, but also contains a time-variable periodic modulation in its optical depth that probably represents organized eccentric motions of the D-ring's particles. This second pattern suggests that whatever event tilted the rings also disturbed the radial or azimuthal velocities of the ring particles. Furthermore, the relative amplitudes of the two patterns indicate that the vertical motions induced by the 1983 event were 2.3 ± 0.5 times larger than the corresponding in-plane motions. If these structures were indeed produced by an impact, material would need to strike the ring at a steep angle (>60°from the ring plane) to produce such motions. Meanwhile, the corrugation wavelengths in the D ring are about 0.7% shorter than one would predict based on extrapolations from similar structures in the nearby C ring. This could indicate that the D-ring was tilted/disturbed about 60 days before the C ring. Such a timing difference could be explained if the material that struck the rings was derived from debris released when some object broke up near Saturn some months earlier. To reproduce the observed time difference, this debris would need to have a substantial initial velocity dispersion and then have its orbital properties perturbed by some phenomenon like solar tides prior to its collision with the rings.

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“…Both the D ring and inner C ring display a vertical corrugation that may have been generated only 25 years ago (67).…”

Section: Diffuse Ringsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings

Cuzzi

Burns

Charnoz

et al. 2010

Science

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129

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We review our understanding of Saturn's rings after nearly 6 years of observations by the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn's rings are composed mostly of water ice but also contain an undetermined reddish contaminant. The rings exhibit a range of structure across many spatial scales; some of this involves the interplay of the fluid nature and the self-gravity of innumerable orbiting centimeter- to meter-sized particles, and the effects of several peripheral and embedded moonlets, but much remains unexplained. A few aspects of ring structure change on time scales as short as days. It remains unclear whether the vigorous evolutionary processes to which the rings are subject imply a much younger age than that of the solar system. Processes on view at Saturn have parallels in circumstellar disks.

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Saturn’s Curiously Corrugated C Ring

Abstract: Spacecraft observations show that Saturn’s and Jupiter’s rings preserve records of recent interplanetary debris collisions.

Cited by 31 publications

References 29 publications

Twisted Disks

Twisted Disks

Corrugations and eccentric spirals in Saturn’s D ring: New insights into what happened at Saturn in 1983

An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings

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