Colin Mitchell John Weiss (Carolyn Porco) 31 July 2007 · 2007. 7. 31. · Colin Mitchell John...
Transcript of Colin Mitchell John Weiss (Carolyn Porco) 31 July 2007 · 2007. 7. 31. · Colin Mitchell John...
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Saturn’s Rings: the Large and Small Colin Mitchell John Weiss
(Carolyn Porco) 31 July 2007
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Those Tiny, Little Moons
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A Ring
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Encke Gap
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Edge of the Encke Gap
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Keeler Gap
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Keeler Gap with Daphnis
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The Main Question:
• How to determine the mass of an embedded moon from the effects on the nearby ring edges?
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Other Questions: • Can the moonlet induce a time-variable
structure? • How does the eccentricity of the moon
change these results? What about the particles’ eccentricities?
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Previous Work
• Nice, analytic expression • Uses an impulse approximation • Assumes particle and moon are initially on
circular orbits
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Approach
• Integrate orbits of particles passing near a moon.
• Particles and moons can have eccentric orbits and arbitrary phase.
• Particles do not interact with each other.
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Mass of Pan
• Analytic theory agrees with integrations to about 3%
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Mass of Daphnis
Analytic theory disagrees with integrations by 35%
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What Does Eccentricity Do
• Following runs give either moon OR the particle eccentricity – e is the same for both case, equal to what
is measured for the moon • Observe the variations in dX and ae for
the particles – Note ae is not equal to the edge wave
amplitude! (I’ll show you what I mean later)
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That Eccentric Daphnis
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Daphnis Again
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Why “ae” isn’t Amplitude
• Because you see particles at all different phases making up the edges.
• This complicates things a lot!
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Graphically…
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More Interesting Still
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Movie
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So What?
• The analytic formula works for distant moon-edge encounters, but not fornearby ones.
• Eccentric moons cause time-variable edges
• Need better simulations (i.e., include particle collisions and gravity) toimprove mass estimates
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Who Cares?
• What all of this means is that small moons can have big effects on rings.
• This is a kind of "open hunting license" for Cassini to go hunting for moons which might have been too small to see yet.
• Knowing the masses of the moons can help us understand their origins... but that's a different part of the talk.
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Spokes
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Introduction
Spoke Observations:
Voyager (1980 & 1981) : Discovery
Hubble (1994-1998) : Faded out
Cassini (2005-???) : Recovered
Composed of small, charged dust particles (~0.5μm)
Start off radially aligned
Most exhibit Kepler shear
Preferentially form at the SKR active region during a particular
magnetic field orientation
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Contrast Phase Dependence
High Phase Low Phase
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Spoke Periodicity
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Spoke Periodicity
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Spoke Periodicity
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�Preferred Geometry
Preferential Geometry for high Spoke Activity
Peak SKR Emission Geometry
Porco and Danielson, 1982
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Dynamics
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Dynamics
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Dynamics
t=0 t=20 min
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Dynamics
T = 1 hr T = 2 hr
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Formation Theories Need to explain:
Charging and levitation of small grains Morphology (some long and narrow, others broad) Multiple spokes at nearly same location Periodicity with SKR and SED Rapid formation (perhaps < 5 mins)
Two possibilities: Impacts Lightning
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Impacts
Impact produces plasma
Plasma charges dust
Dust levitates
Electric field is produce as dust leaves plasma
E x B drift pushes plasma radially
Goertz and Morfill, 1983
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Lightning
Jones et al. 2006
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Model Features
Impact: Explains long narrow spokes well Clusters of spokes would imply multiple impactors Radial motion of plasma may not be as fast as
once thought
Lightning: Explains groups of spokes well Has difficulty with long narrow spokes
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Cassini Results
Didn’t see any spokes until Sept. ‘05
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Local Time
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Magnetic Longitude
Mag. Coordinate system by Kurth et al. 2006
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Morphology
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Spoke Conclusions
The spokes have returned
They appear most abundant on the morning ansa, as expected from Voyager results
They have yet to display any significant dependence on the magnetic field sector
We have yet to see a spoke form
Much work to be done…
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Growth of Ring Moons
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Pan Pan
(Not a lemon)
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(Not a flying saucer)
Atlas
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Prometheus
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Pandora Pandora
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Telesto
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Serendipity
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A Propeller in the Rings?
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What Was That? • Probably the signature of a moonlet
(~50 m) embedded in the ring. • What are we actually seeing? Only one
way to find out!
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Start of Simulation
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Side View
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15 Orbits Later...
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Side Views
• From along y-axis • From along x-axis
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Why Does Growth Stop?
• Roche Zone = Region around the moon
where the moon's gravity dominates
• If one assumes a particular shape for the moonlet, we can work out the critical density at which the moonlet exactly fills its Roche zone: ~ 0.5 g cm-3
• This density is independent of size of the moon
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How Long Does it Take?
• Actually, just a few orbits to grow to the final size
• Particles don't always stick around, though
• Given lots of orbits into and out of sunlight, particles might "weld" themselves together, making a more solid moon
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Does Growth Always Stop?
• No. • It depends on how far you are from the
planet and how dense the infalling material is
• This theory predicts that the planets, for example, can grow as large as they want. (Which is good, because we're not shaped like lemons!)
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How Dense Are They?
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Want More Pictures?
• Visit us at http://www.ciclops.org