Saturn's curiously corrugated C ring.
Science
; 332(6030): 708-11, 2011 May 06.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21454753
In August 2009 the Sun illuminated Saturn's rings from almost exactly edge-on, revealing a subtle corrugation that extends across the entire C ring. This corrugation's amplitude is 2 to 20 meters and its wavelength is 30 to 80 kilometers. Radial trends in the corrugation's wavelength indicate that this structure--like a similar corrugation previously identified in the D ring--results from differential nodal regression within a ring that became tilted relative to Saturn's equator plane in 1983. We suggest that this initial tilt arose because interplanetary debris struck the rings. The corrugation's radial extent implies that the impacting material was a dispersed cloud of debris instead of a single object, and the corrugation's amplitude indicates that the debris' total mass was ~10(11) to 10(13) kilograms.
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Science
Año:
2011
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos