Saturn’s Rings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry W. Esposito
Keyword(s):  
Giant Planets ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Ring Structures ◽  
Recent Origin ◽  
Aggregation And Disaggregation ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Saturn's Rings ◽  
Football Stadiums ◽  
Local Laboratory

Saturn’s rings are not only a beautiful and enduring symbol of space, but astronomers’ best local laboratory for studying phenomena in thin cosmic disks like those where planets formed. All the giant planets have ring systems. Saturn’s are the biggest and brightest. Saturn’s rings are made of innumerable icy particles, ranging from the size of dust to that of football stadiums. Galileo discovered Saturn’s rings with his newly invented telescope, but they were not explained until Huygens described them as thin, flat disks surrounding the planet. In the space age, rings were found around the other giant planets in our solar system. Rings have been seen around asteroids and likely exist around exoplanets. Many of the ring structures seen are created by gravity from Saturn’s moons. Rings show both ongoing aggregation and disaggregation. After decades of study from space and by theoretical analysis, some puzzles still remain unexplained. There is evidence for youthful rings from Cassini results, but no good theory to explain their recent origin. A future Saturn Ring Observer mission would be able to determine the direct connections between the individual ring physical properties and the origin and evolution of larger structures.

scholarly journals Close-range remote sensing of Saturn’s rings during Cassini’s ring-grazing orbits and Grand Finale

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6445) ◽  
pp. eaau1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Tiscareno ◽  
Philip D. Nicholson ◽  
Jeffrey N. Cuzzi ◽  
Linda J. Spilker ◽  
Carl D. Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Spectral Properties ◽  
Dynamical Processes ◽  
Ring Structures ◽  
Close Range ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
F Ring ◽  
Saturn's Rings

Saturn’s rings are an accessible exemplar of an astrophysical disk, tracing the Saturn system’s dynamical processes and history. We present close-range remote-sensing observations of the main rings from the Cassini spacecraft. We find detailed sculpting of the rings by embedded masses, and banded texture belts throughout the rings. Saturn-orbiting streams of material impact the F ring. There are fine-scaled correlations among optical depth, spectral properties, and temperature in the B ring, but anticorrelations within strong density waves in the A ring. There is no spectral distinction between plateaux and the rest of the C ring, whereas the region outward of the Keeler gap is spectrally distinct from nearby regions. These results likely indicate that radial stratification of particle physical properties, rather than compositional differences, is responsible for producing these ring structures.

Gas giant planets, Saturn's rings, and Titan

2015 ◽  
pp. 320-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. West ◽  
Padma A. Yanamandra-Fisher ◽  
Viktor Korokhin
Keyword(s):  
Giant Planets ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Gas Giant ◽  
Saturn's Rings

scholarly journals Origin and Evolution of Saturn’s Rings

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 435-442
Author(s):  
G.E. Morfill
Keyword(s):  
Ring System ◽  
Planetary Rings ◽  
Subsequent Evolution ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings

AbstractThe formation of planetary rings is discussed in the context of formation theories of the gaseous planets. The subsequent evolution of Saturn’s ring system, both dynamically and mechanically, is described, and the consequences are compared with observations.

scholarly journals The Rings of Planets and Cosmogony of the Solar System

1979 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 203-203
Author(s):  
S. K. Vsekhsvyatskij
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings

It is shown that the hypothesis that comets originate in the vicinity of each of the giant planets is consistent with the idea that these planets possess rings. It is suggested that the rings of Uranus, the probable gaseous ring around Jupiter and the clouds surrounding Io are rapidly evolving phenomena - the same may also even be true of Saturn's rings - which is to be expected of agglomerations of cometary meteoroids losing their icy constituents by sublimation.

scholarly journals Reading Saturn’s Ring Spokes

1991 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 357-360
Author(s):  
Laurance R. Doyle ◽  
Eberhard Grün
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Radial Spoke ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings ◽  
Future Work

AbstractThe micron-sized dust forming the radial spoke-like features in Saturn’s rings are studied using radiative transfer analysis. Theories for their likely origin and evolution are discussed in light of these results, and future work is outlined.

Comments on collision mechanics in ring systems

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 407-422
Author(s):  
William K. Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Asteroid Belt ◽  
Surface Erosion ◽  
Surface Layers ◽  
Ring Systems ◽  
Eclipse Observations ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings

ABSTRACTThe nature of collisions within ring systems is reviewed with emphasis on Saturn's rings. The particles may have coherent icy cores and less coherent granular or frosty surface layers, consistent with thermal eclipse observations. Present-day collisions of such ring particles do not cause catastrophic fragmentation of the particles, although some minor surface erosion and reaccretion is possible. Evolution by collisional fragmentation is thus not as important as in the asteroid belt.

Voyager UVS observations of stellar occultations by the rings of Saturn

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 265-277
Author(s):  
J.B. Holbelg ◽  
W.T. Forrester
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Distance Scale ◽  
Density Waves ◽  
Ring Density ◽  
Stellar Occultations ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings

ABSTRACTDuring the Voyager 1 and 2 Saturn encounters the ultraviolet spectrometers observed three separate stellar occultations by Saturn's rings. Together these three observations, which sampled the optical depth of the rings at resolutions from 3 to 6 km. can be used to establish a highly accurate distance scale allowing the identification of numerous ring features associated with resonances due to exterior satellites. Three separate observations of an eccentric ringlet near the location of the Titan apsidal resonance are discussed along with other ringlet-resonance associations occurring in the C ring. Density waves occurring in the A and B rings are reviewed and a detailed discussion of the analysis of one of these features is presented.

Profiling Saturn's rings by radio occultation

Icarus ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Essam A. Marouf ◽  
G. Leonard Tyler ◽  
Paul A. Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Radio Occultation ◽  
Saturn’S Rings ◽  
Saturn's Rings
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