Saturn's Nonaxisymmetric Ring Edges at 1.95R_s and 2.27R_s
Abstract
The outer edges of Saturn's A and B rings, at 2.27 R_s and 1.95 R_s, have been examined using data acquired by four Voyager experiments. The shapes and kinematics of these features are influenced by their proximity to strong low-order Lindblad resonances. The data for the A-ring edge are consistent with a seven-lobed radial distortion of amplitude 6.7 ± 1.5 km which rotates with the mass-weighted mean angular velocity of the coorbital satellite system. The B-ring edge has essentially a double-lobed figure of radial amplitude 74 ± 9 km which rotates with the mean motion of Mimas, though there is an indication that it is not completely described with a simple Saturn-centered ellipse. An upper limit of 10 m has been placed on the vertical thickness in the unperturbed region of the B ring.
Additional Information
© 1984 Academic Press, Inc. Received October 21, 1983; revised May 25, 1984. We thank Howard Zebker and Len Tyler for generously supplying Radio Science data. Larry Esposito, Jack Lissauer, and Frank Shu are acknowledged for valuable comments and criticisms. This work has been supported by NASA Grants NGL 05-002-003 and 7-100 and by NSF Grant AST 80-20005.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 37220
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130301-081258771
- NGL 05-002-003
- NASA
- NGL 7-100
- NASA
- AST 80-20005
- NSF
- Created
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2013-03-01Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Other Numbering System Name
- Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 3961