Title

An Evolving View of Saturn's Dynamic Rings

Authors

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

Comments

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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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