An Evolving View of Saturn's Dynamic Rings

    Authors

    J. N. Cuzzi; J. A. Burns; S. Charnoz; R. N. Clark; J. E. Colwell; L. Dones; L. W. Esposito; G. Filacchione; R. G. French; M. M. Hedman; S. Kempf; E. A. Marouf; C. D. Murray; P. D. Nicholson; C. C. Porco; J. Schmidt; M. R. Showalter; L. J. Spilker; J. N. Spitale; R. Srama; M. Sremcevic; M. S. Tiscareno;J. Weiss

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Science

    Keywords

    PROMETHEUS-PANDORA SYSTEM; SELF-GRAVITY WAKES; F-RING; B-RING; VISCOUS; OVERSTABILITY; RADIAL STRUCTURE; CASSINI VIMS; A-RING; MOONLETS; SATELLITES; Multidisciplinary Sciences

    Abstract

    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.

    Journal Title

    Science

    Volume

    327

    Issue/Number

    5972

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Review

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1470

    Last Page

    1475

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000275715200037

    ISSN

    0036-8075

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