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1.
M. Seiß  F. Spahn  Jürgen Schmidt 《Icarus》2010,210(1):298-317
Saturn’s rings host two known moons, Pan and Daphnis, which are massive enough to clear circumferential gaps in the ring around their orbits. Both moons create wake patterns at the gap edges by gravitational deflection of the ring material (Cuzzi, J.N., Scargle, J.D. [1985]. Astrophys. J. 292, 276-290; Showalter, M.R., Cuzzi, J.N., Marouf, E.A., Esposito, L.W. [1986]. Icarus 66, 297-323). New Cassini observations revealed that these wavy edges deviate from the sinusoidal waveform, which one would expect from a theory that assumes a circular orbit of the perturbing moon and neglects particle interactions. Resonant perturbations of the edges by moons outside the ring system, as well as an eccentric orbit of the embedded moon, may partly explain this behavior (Porco, C.C., and 34 colleagues [2005]. Science 307, 1226-1236; Tiscareno, M.S., Burns, J.A., Hedman, M.M., Spitale, J.N., Porco, C.C., Murray, C.D., and the Cassini Imaging team [2005]. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 767; Weiss, J.W., Porco, C.C., Tiscareno, M.S., Burns, J.A., Dones, L. [2005]. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 767; Weiss, J.W., Porco, C.C., Tiscareno, M.S. [2009]. Astron. J. 138, 272-286). Here we present an extended non-collisional streamline model which accounts for both effects. We describe the resulting variations of the density structure and the modification of the nonlinearity parameter q. Furthermore, an estimate is given for the applicability of the model. We use the streamwire model introduced by Stewart (Stewart, G.R. [1991]. Icarus 94, 436-450) to plot the perturbed ring density at the gap edges.We apply our model to the Keeler gap edges undulated by Daphnis and to a faint ringlet in the Encke gap close to the orbit of Pan. The modulations of the latter ringlet, induced by the perturbations of Pan (Burns, J.A., Hedman, M.M., Tiscareno, M.S., Nicholson, P.D., Streetman, B.J., Colwell, J.E., Showalter, M.R., Murray, C.D., Cuzzi, J.N., Porco, C.C., and the Cassini ISS team [2005]. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 766), can be well described by our analytical model. Our analysis yields a Hill radius of Pan of 17.5 km, which is 9% smaller than the value presented by Porco (Porco, C.C., and 34 colleagues [2005]. Science 307, 1226-1236), but fits well to the radial semi-axis of Pan of 17.4 km. This supports the idea that Pan has filled its Hill sphere with accreted material (Porco, C.C., Thomas, P.C., Weiss, J.W., Richardson, D.C. [2007]. Science 318, 1602-1607). A numerical solution of a streamline is used to estimate the parameters of the Daphnis-Keeler gap system, since the close proximity of the gap edge to the moon induces strong perturbations, not allowing an application of the analytic streamline model. We obtain a Hill radius of 5.1 km for Daphnis, an inner edge variation of 8 km, and an eccentricity for Daphnis of 1.5 × 10−5. The latter two quantities deviate by a factor of two from values gained by direct observations (Jacobson, R.A., Spitale, J., Porco, C.C., Beurle, K., Cooper, N.J., Evans, M.W., Murray, C.D. [2008]. Astron. J. 135, 261-263; Tiscareno, M.S., Burns, J.A., Hedman, M.M., Spitale, J.N., Porco, C.C., Murray, C.D., and the Cassini Imaging team [2005]. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 767), which might be attributed to the neglect of particle interactions and vertical motion in our model.  相似文献   

2.
Sascha Kempf  Uwe Beckmann 《Icarus》2010,206(2):446-457
Pre-Cassini models of Saturn’s E ring [Horányi, M., Burns, J., Hamilton, D., 1992. Icarus 97, 248-259; Juhász, A., Horányi, M., 2002. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 1-10] failed to reproduce its peculiar vertical structure inferred from Earth-bound observations [de Pater, I., Martin, S.C., Showalter, M.R., 2004. Icarus 172, 446-454]. After the discovery of an active ice-volcanism of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus the relevance of the directed injection of particles for the vertical ring structure of the E ring was swiftly recognised [Juhász, A., Horányi, M., Morfill, G.E., 2007. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L09104; Kempf, S., Beckmann, U., Moragas-Klostermeyer, G., Postberg, F., Srama, R., Economou, T., Schmidt, J., Spahn, F., Grün, E., 2008. Icarus 193, 420-437]. However, simple models for the delivery of particles from the plume to the ring predict a too small vertical ring thickness and overestimate the amount of the injected dust.Here we report on numerical simulations of grains leaving the plume and populating the dust torus of Enceladus. We run a large number of dynamical simulations including gravity and Lorentz force to investigate the earliest phase of the ring particle life span. The evolution of the electrostatic charge carried by the initially uncharged grains is treated selfconsistently. Freshly ejected plume particles are moving in almost circular orbits because the Enceladus orbital speed exceeds the particles’ ejection speeds by far. Only a small fraction of grains that leave the Hill sphere of Enceladus survive the next encounter with the moon. Thus, the flux and size distribution of the surviving grains, replenishing the ring particle reservoir, differs significantly from the flux and size distribution of the particles freshly ejected from the plume. Our numerical simulations reproduce the vertical ring profile measured by the Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) [Kempf, S., Beckmann, U., Moragas-Klostermeyer, G., Postberg, F., Srama, R., EconoDmou, T., Smchmidt, J., Spahn, F., Grün, E., 2008. Icarus 193, 420-437]. From our simulations we calculate the deposition rates of plume particles hitting Enceladus’ surface. We find that at a distance of 100 m from a jet a 10 m sized ice boulder should be covered by plume particles in 105-106 years.  相似文献   

3.
C. Ferrari  S. Brooks  C. Leyrat  L. Spilker 《Icarus》2009,199(1):145-153
The CIRS infrared spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft has scanned Saturn's A ring azimuthally from several viewing angles since its orbit insertion in 2004. A quadrupolar asymmetry has been detected in this ring at spacecraft elevations ranging between 16° to 37°. Its fractional amplitude decreases from 22% to 8% from 20° to 37° elevations. The patterns observed in two almost complete azimuthal scans at elevations 20° and 36° strongly favor the self-gravity wakes as the origin of the asymmetry. The elliptical, infinite cylinder model of Hedman et al. [Hedman, M.M., Nicholson, P.D., Salo, H., Wallis, B.D., Buratti, B.J., Baines, K.H., Brown, R.H., Clark, R.N., 2007. Astron. J. 133, 2624-2629] can reproduce the CIRS observations well. Such wakes are found to have an average height-to-spacing ratio H/λ=0.1607±0.0002, a width-over-spacing W/λ=0.3833±0.0008. Gaps between wakes, which are filled with particles, have an optical depth τG=0.1231±0.0005. The wakes mean pitch angle ΦW is 70.70°±0.07°, relative to the radial direction. The comparison of ground-based visible data with CIRS observations constrains the A ring to be a monolayer. For a surface mass density of 40 g cm−2 [Tiscarino, M.S., Burns, J.A., Nicholson, P.D., Hedman, M.M., Porco, C.C., 2007. Icarus 189, 14-34], the expected spacing of wakes is λ≈60 m. Their height and width would then be H≈10 m and W≈24 m, values that match the maximum size of particles in this ring as determined from ground-based stellar occultations [French, R.G., Nicholson, P.D., 2000. Icarus 145, 502-523].  相似文献   

4.
A hexagonal structure has been observed at ∼76°N on Saturn since the 1980s (Godfrey, D.A. [1988]. Icarus 76, 335-356). Recent images by Cassini (Baines, K., Momary, T., Roos-Serote, M., Atreya, S., Brown, R., Buratti, B., Clark, R., Nicholson, P. [2007]. Geophys. Res. Abstr. 9, 02109; Baines, K., Momary, T., Fletcher, L., Kim, J., Showman, A., Atreya, S., Brown, R., Buratti, B., Clark, R., Nicholson, P. [2009]. Geophys. Res. Abstr. 11, 3375) have shown that the feature is still visible and largely unchanged. Its long lifespan and geometry has puzzled the planetary physics community for many years and its origin remains unclear. The measured rotation rate of the hexagon may be very close to that of the interior of the planet (Godfrey, D.A. [1990]. Science 247, 1206-1208; Caldwell, J., Hua, X., Turgeon, B., Westphal, J.A., Barnet, C.D. [1993]. Science 206, 326-329; Sánchez-Lavega, A., Lecacheux, J., Colas, F., Laques, P. [1993]. Science 260, 329-332), leading to earlier interpretations of the pattern as a stationary planetary wave, continuously forced by a nearby vortex (Allison, M., Godfrey, D.A., Beebe, R.F. [1990]. Science 247, 1061-1063). Here we present an alternative explanation, based on an analysis of both spacecraft observations of Saturn and observations from laboratory experiments where the instability of quasi-geostrophic barotropic (vertically uniform) jets and shear layers is studied. We also present results from a barotropic linear instability analysis of the saturnian zonal wind profile, which are consistent with the presence of the hexagon in the North Pole and absence of its counter-part in the South Pole. We propose that Saturn’s long-lived polygonal structures correspond to wavemodes caused by the nonlinear equilibration of barotropically unstable zonal jets.  相似文献   

5.
Cassini UVIS star occultations by the F ring detect 13 events ranging from 27 m to 9 km in width. We interpret these structures as likely temporary aggregations of multiple smaller objects, which result from the balance between fragmentation and accretion processes. One of these features was simultaneously observed by VIMS. There is evidence that this feature is elongated in azimuth. Some features show sharp edges. At least one F ring object is opaque and may be a “moonlet.” This possible moonlet provides evidence for larger objects embedded in Saturn's F ring, which were predicted as the sources of the F ring material by Cuzzi and Burns [Cuzzi, J.N., Burns, J.A., 1988. Icarus 74, 284-324], and as an outcome of tidally modified accretion by Barbara and Esposito [Barbara, J.M., Esposito, L.W., 2002. Icarus 160, 161-171]. We see too few events to confirm the bi-modal distribution which Barbara and Esposito [Barbara, J.M., Esposito, L.W., 2002. Icarus 160, 161-171] predict. These F ring structures and other youthful features detected by Cassini may result from ongoing destruction of small parent bodies in the rings and subsequent aggregation of the fragments. If so, the temporary aggregates are 10 times more abundant than the solid objects. If recycling by re-accretion is significant, the rings could be quite ancient, and likely to persist far into the future.  相似文献   

6.
The reflectance of Saturn’s moon Enceladus has been measured at far ultraviolet (FUV) wavelengths (115-190 nm) by Cassini’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). At visible and near infrared (VNIR) wavelengths Enceladus’ reflectance spectrum is very bright, consistent with a surface composed primarily of H2O ice. At FUV wavelengths, however, Enceladus is surprisingly dark - darker than would be expected for pure water ice. Previous analyses have focused on the VNIR spectrum, comparing it to pure water ice (Cruikshank, D.P., Owen, T.C., Dalle Ore, C., Geballe, T.R., Roush, T.L., de Bergh, C., Sandford, S.A., Poulet, F., Benedix, G.K., Emery, J.P. [2005] Icarus, 175, 268-283) or pure water ice plus a small amount of NH3 (Emery, J.P., Burr, D.M., Cruikshank, D.P., Brown, R.H., Dalton, J.B. [2005] Astron. Astrophys., 435, 353-362) or NH3 hydrate (Verbiscer, A.J., Peterson, D.E., Skrutskie, M.F., Cushing, M., Helfenstein, P., Nelson, M.J., Smith, J.D., Wilson, J.C. [2006] Icarus, 182, 211-223). We compare Enceladus’ FUV spectrum to existing laboratory measurements of the reflectance spectra of candidate species, and to spectral models. We find that the low FUV reflectance of Enceladus can be explained by the presence of a small amount of NH3 and a small amount of a tholin in addition to H2O ice on the surface. The presence of these three species (H2O, NH3, and a tholin) appears to satisfy not only the low FUV reflectance and spectral shape, but also the middle-ultraviolet to visible wavelength brightness and spectral shape. We expect that ammonia in the Enceladus plume is transported across the surface to provide a global coating.  相似文献   

7.
The discovery of plumes of H2O vapor and ice particles erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, the tiny frigid satellite of Saturn, sparked controversy over whether these plumes are produced by boiling, or by sublimation with subsequent recondensation of the sublimated vapor [Porco, C.C., Helfenstein, P., Thomas, P.C., Ingersoll, A.P., Wisdom, J., West, R., Neukum, G., Denk, T., Wagner, R., Roatsch, T., Kieffer, S., Turtle, E., McEwen, A., Johnson, T.V., Rathbun, J., Veverka, J., Wilson, D., Perry, J., Spitale, J., Brahic, A., Burns, J.A., DelGenio, A.D., Dones, L., Murray, C.D., Squyres, S., 2006. Science 311, 1393-1401]. Porco et al.’s analysis that the masses of ice (I) and vapor (V) in the plume were comparable was taken to argue against the occurrence of sublimation and recondensation, leading to the hypothesis that the reservoir was boiling water, possibly as close as 7 m to the surface. Thus, it has been advocated that Enceladus should be a target for astrobiology exploration. Here we show, with recalculations using the original data and methodologies, as well as with new sensitivity studies, that the mass of ice in the column is significantly less than the mass of water vapor, and that by considering three additional effects, I/V is likely to be <0.2-0.1. This means that the plume is dominated by vapor that the thermodynamics permits to be easily produced by sublimation with recondensation. The low I/V ratio provides no compelling criterion for consideration of a liquid water reservoir. The uncertainties on the I/V ratio have not previously been discussed in the literature. Although the I/V ratio is sensitive to particle sizes and size distributions, the masses of ice (I) and vapor (V) are not comparable in any scenario constrained by available observations. We thus discuss the implications of sublimation from a thermodynamic point of view in a context that has not been presented previously. Constraints on I/V ratio from future spacecraft measurements of the plume, in conjunction with consideration of the total plume composition and multicomponent analysis, can help constrain source conditions for the plume.  相似文献   

8.
9.
We apply a multivariate statistical method to the Phoebe spectra collected by the VIMS experiment onboard the Cassini spacecraft during the flyby of June 2004. The G-mode clustering method, which permits identification of the most important features in a spectrum, is used on a small subset of data, characterized by medium and high spatial resolution, to perform a raw spectral classification of the surface of Phoebe. The combination of statistics and comparative analysis of the different areas using both the VIMS and ISS data is explored in order to highlight possible correlations with the surface geology. In general, the results by Clark et al. [Clark, R.N., Brown, R.H., Jaumann, R., Cruikshank, D.P., Nelson, R.M., Buratti, B.J., McCord, T.B., Lunine, J., Hoefen, T., Curchin, J.M., Hansen, G., Hibbitts, K., Matz, K.-D., Baines, K.H., Bellucci, G., Bibring, J.-P., Capaccioni, F., Cerroni, P., Coradini, A., Formisano, V., Langevin, Y., Matson, D.L., Mennella, V., Nicholson, P.D., Sicardy, B., Sotin, C., 2005. Nature 435, 66-69] are confirmed; but we also identify new signatures not reported before, such as the aliphatic CH stretch at 3.53 μm and the ∼4.4 μm feature possibly related to cyanide compounds. On the basis of the band strengths computed for several absorption features and for the homogeneous spectral types isolated by the G-mode, a strong correlation of CO2 and aromatic hydrocarbons with exposed water ice, where the uniform layer covering Phoebe has been removed, is established. On the other hand, an anti-correlation of cyanide compounds with CO2 is suggested at a medium resolution scale.  相似文献   

10.
Cassini radio science experiments have provided multiple occultation optical depth profiles of Saturn's rings that can be used in combination to analyze density waves. This paper establishes an accurate procedure of inversion of the wave profiles to reconstruct the wave kinematic parameters as a function of semi-major axis, in the nonlinear regime. This procedure is established using simulated data in the presence of realistic noise perturbations, to control the reconstruction error. It is then applied to the Mimas 5:3 density wave. There are two important concepts at the basis of this procedure. The first one is that it uses the nonlinear representation of density waves, and the second one is that it relies on a combination of optical depth profiles instead of just one profile. A related method to analyze density waves was devised by Longaretti and Borderies [Longaretti, P.-Y., Borderies, N., 1986. Icarus 67, 211-223] to study the nonlinear density wave associated with the Mimas 5:3 resonance, but the single photopolarimetric profile provided limited constraints. Other studies of density waves analyzing Cassini data [Colwell, J.E., Esposito, L.W., 2007. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 39, 461; Tiscareno, M.S., Burns, J.A., Nicholson, P.D., Hedman, M.M., Porco, C.C., 2007. Icarus 189, 14-34] are based on the linear theory and find inconsistent results from profile to profile. Multiple cuts of the rings are helpful in a fundamental way to ensure the accuracy of the procedure by forcing consistency among the various optical depth profiles. By way of illustration we have applied our procedure to the Mimas 5:3 density wave. We were able to recover precisely the kinematic parameters from the radio experiment occultation data in most of the propagation region; a preliminary analysis of the pressure-corrected dispersion allowed us to determine new but still uncertain values for the opacity (K?0.02 cm2/g) and velocity dispersion of (c0?0.6 cm/s) in the wave region. Our procedure constitutes the first step in our planned analysis of the density waves of Saturn's rings. It is very accurate and efficient in the far-wave region. However, improvements are required within the first wavelength. The ways in which this method can be used to establish diagnostics of ring physics are outlined.  相似文献   

11.
Thermal infrared spectra of Saturn from 10-1400 cm−1 at 15 cm−1 spectral resolution and a spatial resolution of 1°-2° latitude have been obtained by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer [Flasar, F.M., and 44 colleagues, 2004. Space Sci. Rev. 115, 169-297]. Many thousands of spectra, acquired over eighteen-months of observations, are analysed using an optimal estimation retrieval code [Irwin, P.G.J., Parrish, P., Fouchet, T., Calcutt, S.B., Taylor, F.W., Simon-Miller, A.A., Nixon, C.A., 2004. Icarus 172, 37-49] to retrieve the temperature structure and para-hydrogen distribution over Saturn's northern (winter) and southern (summer) hemispheres. The vertical temperature structure is analysed in detail to study seasonal asymmetries in the tropopause height (65-90 mbar), the location of the radiative-convective boundary (350-500 mbar), and the variation with latitude of a temperature knee (between 150 and 300 mbar) which was first observed in inversions of Voyager/IRIS spectra [Hanel, R., and 15 colleagues, 1981. Science 212, 192-200; Hanel, R., Conrath, B., Flasar, F.M., Kunde, V., Maguire, W., Pearl, J.C., Pirraglia, J., Samuelson, R., Cruikshank, D.P., Gautier, D., Gierasch, P.J., Horn, L., Ponnamperuma, C., 1982. Science 215, 544-548]. Uncertainties due to both the modelling of spectral absorptions (collision-induced absorption coefficients, tropospheric hazes, helium abundance) and the nature of our retrieval algorithm are quantified.Temperatures in the stratosphere near 1 mbar show a 25-30 K temperature difference between the north pole and south pole. This asymmetry becomes less pronounced with depth as the radiative time constant for the atmospheric response increases at deeper pressure levels. Hemispherically-symmetric small-scale temperature structures associated with zonal winds are superimposed onto the temperature asymmetry for pressures greater than 100 mbar. The para-hydrogen fraction in the 100-400 mbar range is greater than equilibrium predictions for the southern hemisphere and parts of the northern hemisphere, and less than equilibrium predictions polewards of 40° N.The temperature knee between 150-300 mbar is larger in the summer hemisphere than in the winter, smaller and higher at the equator, deeper and larger in the equatorial belts and small at the poles. Solar heating on tropospheric haze is proposed as a possible mechanism for this effect; the increased efficiency of ortho- to para-hydrogen conversion in the southern hemisphere is consistent with the presence of larger aerosols in the summer hemisphere, which we demonstrate to be qualitatively consistent with previous studies of Saturn's tropospheric aerosol distribution.  相似文献   

12.
Some recent MER Rover Opportunity results on ancient sedimentary rocks from Mars describe sandstones originated from the chemical weathering of olivine basalts by acidic waters [Squyres, S.W., Knoll, A.H., 2005. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 240, 1-10]. The absence of protective components in early Mars atmosphere forced any possible primordial life forms to deal with high doses of UV radiation. A similar situation occurred on the primitive Earth during the development of early life in the Archean [Berkner, L.V., Marshall, L.C., 1965. J. Atmos. Sci. 22 (3), 225-261; Kasting, J.F., 1993. Science 259, 920-926]. It is known that some cellular and/or external components can shield organisms from damaging UV radiation or quench its toxic effects [Olson, J.M., Pierson, B.K., 1986. Photosynth. Res. 9, 251-259; García-Pichel, F., 1998. Origins Life Evol. B 28, 321-347; Cockell, C., Rettberg, P., Horneck, G., Scherer, K., Stokes, M.D., 2003. Polar Biol. 26, 62-69]. The effectiveness of iron minerals for UV protection has also been reported [Phoenix, V.R., Konhauser, K.O., Adams, D.G., Bottrell, S.H., 2001. Geology 29 (9), 823-826], but nothing is known about the effect of iron in solution. Here we demonstrate the protective effect of soluble ferric iron against UV radiation on acidophilic photosynthetic microorganisms. These results offer an interesting alternative means of protection for life on the surface of early Mars and Earth, especially in light of the geochemical conditions in which the sedimentary minerals, jarosite and goethite, recently reported by the MER missions, were formed [Squyres, S.W., Arvidson, R.E., Bell III, J.F., Brückner, J., Cabrol, N.A., Calvin, W., Carr, M.H., Christensen, P.R., Clark, B.C., Crumpler, L., Des Marais, D.J., d'Uston, C., Economou, T., Farmer, J., Farrand, W., Folkner, W., Golombek, M., Gorevan, S., Grant, J.A., Greeley, R., Grotzinger, J., Haskin, L., Herkenhoff, K.E., Hviid, S., Johnson, J., Klingelhöfer, G., Knoll, A.H., Landis, G., Lemmon, M., Li, R., Madsen, M.B., Malin, M.C., McLennan, S.M., McSween, H.Y., Ming, D.W., Moersch, J., Morris, R.V., Parker, T., Rice Jr., J.W., Richter, L., Rieder, R., Sims, M., Smith, M., Smith, P., Soderblom, L.A., Sullivan, R., Wänke, H., Wdowiak, T., Wolff, M., Yen, A., 2004. Science 306, 1698-1703; Klingelhöfer, G., Morris, R.V., Bernhardt, B., Schröder, C., Rodionov, D.S., de Souza Jr., P.A., Yen, A., Gellert, R., Evlanov, E.N., Zubkov, B., Foh, J., Bonnes, U., Kankeleit, E., Gütlich, P., Ming, D.W., Renz, F., Wdowiak, T., Squyres, S.W., Arvidson, R.E., 2004. Science 306, 1740-1745].  相似文献   

13.
Wei-Ling Tseng  Wing-Huen Ip 《Icarus》2011,212(1):294-299
The existence of an oxygen exosphere and ionosphere in Saturn’s main ring region has been confirmed by the Saturn Orbital Insertion (SOI) observations of the Cassini spacecraft. Through the ion-molecule collisions, the ring atmosphere could serve as a source of ions throughout Saturn’s magnetosphere. If photolysis of ice in the main rings is the dominant source of O2, then the complex structure of the ring atmosphere/ionosphere and the injection rate of neutral O2 will be subject to modulation by the seasonal variation of Saturn along its orbit (Tseng, Wei-Ling, Ip, W.-H., Johnson, R.E., Cassidy, T.A., Erlod, M.K. [2010]. Icarus 206, 382-389). In addition, the radio and plasma wave science (RPWS) instrument onboard Cassini found that a large amount of the Enceladus-originated water-group plasma would be deposited on the outer edge of the A ring (Farrell, W.M., Kaiser, M.L., Gurnett, D.A., Kurth, W.S., Persoon, A.M., Wahlund, J.E., Canu, P. [2008]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L02203). A large amount of Enceladus’ plume neutrals (water-group neutrals) would collide with the main rings through collisional interaction with the ambient neutrals and plasma ions (Jurac, S., Richardson, J.D. [2007]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L08102; Cassidy, T.A., Johnson, R.E. [2010]. Icarus, in press). These absorbed ions and neutrals could be recycled to neutral oxygen molecules via grain-surface chemistry to contribute the ring oxygen atmosphere. In this work, we have examined the mass budget of the ring oxygen atmosphere of Saturn taking into account such an “exogenic” source. The maximum O2 source rate from recycling of Enceladus-originated plasma and neutrals is probably comparable or higher to the one from photolytic decomposition of ices. In the above case, the neutral O2 source rate would be independent of the solar insolation angle. Therefore, even at Saturn’s Equinox, the extended oxygen atmosphere still could be an important supplier of oxygen ions in the saturnian magnetosphere. We have performed several studies for different recycling source rates from Enceladus. These predictions need further the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) and the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) observations to be verified in future.  相似文献   

14.
We report new radar observations of E-class Asteroid 64 Angelina and M-class Asteroid 69 Hesperia obtained with the Arecibo Observatory S-band radar (2480 MHz, 12.6 cm). Our measurements of Angelina’s radar bandwidth are consistent with reported diameters and poles. We find Angelina’s circular polarization ratio to be 0.8 ± 0.1, tied with 434 Hungaria for the highest value observed for main-belt asteroids and consistent with the high values observed for all E-class asteroids (Benner, L.A.M., Ostro, S.J., Magri, C., Nolan, M.C., Howell, E.S., Giorgini, J.D., Jurgens, R.F., Margot, J.L., Taylor, P.A., Busch, M.W., Shepard, M.K. [2008]. Icarus 198, 294-304; Shepard, M.K., Kressler, K.M., Clark, B.E., Ockert-Bell, M.E., Nolan, M.C., Howell, E.S., Magri, C., Giorgini, J.D., Benner, L.A.M., Ostro, S.J. [2008b]. Icarus 195, 220-225). Our radar observations of 69 Hesperia, combined with lightcurve-based shape models, lead to a diameter estimate, Deff = 110 ± 15 km, approximately 20% smaller than the reported IRAS value. We estimate Hesperia to have a radar albedo of , consistent with a high-metal content. We therefore add 69 Hesperia to the Mm-class (high metal M) (Shepard, M.K., Clark, B.E., Ockert-Bell, M., Nolan, M.C., Howell, E.S., Magri, C., Giorgini, J.D., Benner, L.A.M., Ostro, S.J., Harris, A.W., Warner, B.D., Stephens, R.D., Mueller, M. [2010]. Icarus 208, 221-237), bringing the total number of Mm-class objects to eight; this is 40% of all M-class asteroids observed by radar to date.  相似文献   

15.
We present a comprehensive examination of Jupiter's “gossamer” rings based on images from Voyager, Galileo, the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Telescope. We compare our results to the simple dynamical model of Burns et al. [Burns, J.A., Showalter, M.R., Hamilton, D.P., Nicholson, P.D., de Pater, I., Ockert-Bell, M., Thomas, P., 1999. Science 284, 1146-1150] in which dust is ejected from Amalthea and Thebe and then evolves inward under Poynting-Robertson drag. The ring follows many predictions of the model rather well, including a linear reduction in thickness with decreasing radius. However, some deviations from the model are noted. For example, additional material appears to be concentrated just interior to the orbits of the two moons. At least in the case of Amalthea's ring, that material is in the same orbital plane as Amalthea's inclined orbit and may be trapped at the Lagrange points. Thebe's ring shows much larger vertical excursions from the model, which may be related to perturbations by several strong Lorentz resonances. Photometry is consistent with the dust obeying a relatively flat power-law size distribution, very similar to dust in the main ring. However, the very low backscatter reflectivity of the ring, and the flat phase curve of the ring at low phase angles, require that the ring be composed of distinctly non-spherical particles.  相似文献   

16.
The near-infrared spectrum of Titan, Saturn's largest moon and one of the Cassini/Huygens' space mission primary targets, covers the 0.8 to 5 micron region in which it shows several weak CH4 absorption regions, and in particular one centered near 2.75 micron. Due to the interference of telluric absorption, only part of this window region (2.9-3.1 μm) has previously been observed from the ground [Noll, K.S., Geballe, T.R., Knacke, R., Pendleton, F., Yvonne, J., 1996. Icarus 124, 625-631; Griffith, C.A., Owen, T., Miller, G.A., Geballe, T., 1998. Nature 395, 575-578; Griffith, C.A., Owen, T., Geballe, T.R., Rayner, J., Rannou, P., 2003. Science 300, 628-630; Geballe, T.R., Kim, S.J., Noll, K.S., Griffith, C.A., 2003. Astrophys. J. 583, L39-L42]. We report here on the first spectroscopic observations of Titan covering the whole 2.4-4.9 μm region by two instruments on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) in 1997. These observations show the 2.75-μm window in its complete extent for the first time. In this study we have also used a high-resolution Titan spectrum in the 2.9-3.6 μm region taken with the Keck [Geballe, T.R., Kim, S.J., Noll, K.S., Griffith, C.A., 2003. Astrophys. J. 583, L39-L42; Kim, S.J., Geballe, T.R., Noll, K.S., Courtin, R., 2005. Icarus 173, 522-532] to infer information on the atmospheric parameters (haze extinction, single scattering albedo, methane abundance, etc.) by fitting the methane bands with a detailed microphysical model of Titan's atmosphere (updated from Rannou, P., McKay, C.P., Lorenz, R.D., 2003. Planet. Space Sci. 51, 963-976). We have included in this study an updated version of a database for the CH4 absorption coefficients [STDS, Wenger, Ch., Champion, J.-P., 1998. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 59, 471-480. See also http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/LPUB/TSM/sTDS.html for latest updates; Boudon, V., Champion, J.-P., Gabard, T., Loëte, M., Michelot, F., Pierre, G., Rotger, M., Wenger, Ch., Rey, M., 2004. J. Mol. Spectrosc. 228, 620-634]. For the atmosphere we find that (a) the haze extinction profile that best matches the data is one with higher (by 40%) extinction in the atmosphere with respect to Rannou et al. (2003) down to about 30 km where a complete cut-off occurs; (b) the methane mixing ratio at Titan's surface cannot exceed 3% on a disk-average basis, yielding a maximum CH4 column abundance of 2.27 km-am in Titan's atmosphere. From the derived surface albedo spectrum in the 2.7-3.08 micron region, we bring some constraints on Titan's surface composition. The albedo in the center of the methane window varies from 0.01 to 0.08. These values, compared to others reported in the other methane windows, show a strong compatibility with the water ice spectrum in the near-infrared. Without confirming its existence from this work alone, our data then appear to be compatible with water ice. A variety of other ices, such as CO2, NH3, tholin material or hydrocarbon liquid cannot be excluded from our data, but an additional unidentified component with a signature around 2.74 micron is required to satisfy the data.  相似文献   

17.
Recent modeling of the meteorological conditions during and following times of high obliquity suggests that an icy mantle could have been emplaced in western Utopia Planitia by atmospheric deposition during the late Amazonian period [Costard, F.M., Forget, F., Madeleine, J.B., Soare, R.J., Kargel, J.S., 2008. Lunar Planet. Sci. 39. Abstract 1274; Madeleine, B., Forget, F., Head, J.W., Levrard, B., Montmessin, F., 2007. Lunar Planet. Sci. 38. Abstract 1778]. Astapus Colles (ABa) is a late Amazonian geological unit — located in this hypothesized area of accumulation — that comprises an icy mantle tens of meters thick [Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. For the most part, this unit drapes the early Amazonian Vastitas Borealis interior unit (ABvi); to a lesser degree it overlies the early Amazonian Vastitas Borealis marginal unit (ABvm) and the early to late Hesperian UP plains unit HBu2 [Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. Landscapes possibly modified by late-Amazonian periglacial processes [Costard, F.M., Kargel, J.S., 1995. Icarus 114, 93-112; McBride, S.A., Allen, C.C., Bell, M.S., 2005. Lunar Planet. Sci. 36. Abstract 1090; Morgenstern, A., Hauber, E., Reiss, D., van Gasselt, S., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., 2007. J. Geophys. Res. 112, doi:10.1029/2006JE002869. E06010; Seibert, N.M., Kargel, J.S., 2001. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 899-902; Soare, R.J., Kargel, J.S., Osinski, G.R., Costard, F., 2007. Icarus 191, 95-112; Soare, R.J., Osinski, G.R., Roehm, C.L., 2008. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 272, 382-393] and glacial processes [Milliken, R.E., Mustard, J.F., Goldsby, D.L., 2003. J. Geophys. Res. 108 (E6), doi:10.1029/2002JE002005. 5057; Mustard, J.F., Cooper, C.D., Rifkin, M.K., 2001. Nature 412, 411-414; Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888] have been reported within the region. Researchers have assumed that the periglacial and glacial landscapes occur within the same geological unit, the ABa [i.e., Morgenstern, A., Hauber, E., Reiss, D., van Gasselt, S., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., 2007. J. Geophys. Res. 112; doi:10.1029/2006JE002869. E06010; Tanaka, K.L., Skinner, J.A., Hare, T.M., 2005. US Geol. Surv. Sci. Invest., Map 2888]. In this study we use HiRISE (High Resolution Image Science Experiment, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) imagery to identify the stratigraphical separation of the two landscapes and show that periglacial landscape modification has occurred in the geological units that underlie the ABa, not in the ABa itself. Moreover, we suggest that the periglacial landscape extends well beyond the perimeter of the ABa and could be the product of “wet” cold-climate processes. These processes involve freeze-thaw cycles and intermittently stable liquid-water at or near the surface. By contrast, we propose that the ABa is a very recent late-Amazonian geological unit formed principally by “dry” cold-climate processes. These processes comprise accumulation (by atmospheric deposition) and ablation (by sublimation).  相似文献   

18.
S. Takahashi  H. Misawa  A. Morioka  R. Sood 《Icarus》2005,178(2):346-359
We report on two-dimensional imaging observations of D-line emissions from the extended distribution of iogenic sodium atoms with two fields of view (±20 RJ (narrow FOV) and ±400 RJ (wide FOV)) simultaneously by using a portable small telescope or camera lens. We derived dynamic feature of the band-shaped and spray-shaped distributions near Io's orbit by means of continuous observation. The observations confirm the phenomenological behavior of the sodium cloud on two spatial scales, as previously observed by Pilcher et al. [Pilcher, C.B., Smyth, W.H., Combi, M.R., Fertel, J.H., 1984. Astrophys. J. 287, 427-444], Schneider et al. [Schneider, N.M., Trauger, J.T., Wilson, J.K., Brown, D.I., Evans, R.W., Shemansky, D.E., 1991. Science 253, 1394-1397], and Mendillo et al. [Mendillo, M., Baumgartner, J., Flynn, B., Hughes, W.S., 1990. Nature 348, 312-314]. We also confirm an elongated oval emission distribution of the sodium nebula and derivation of its detailed east-west asymmetry depending on Io's phase angle, which was first noted by Flynn et al. [Flynn, B., Mendillo, M., Baumgartner, J., 1994. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 8403-8409]. We then did model analyses to investigate the source process for sodium atoms and the dynamics behind their distribution. We conclude that the essential of molecular ion mechanisms to the band-shaped distribution is in agreement with Wilson and Schneider [Wilson, J.K., Schneider, N.M., 1999. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 16567-16583]. We differ from Wilson et al. [Wilson, J.K., Mendillo, M., Baumgartner, J., Schneider, N.M., Trauger, J.T., Flynn, B., 2002. Icarus 157, 476-489] in finding that charge exchange process contributes more to the spray-shaped distribution and sodium nebula than sputtering does. These results derived the double-peaked velocity distribution of released sodium atoms, and re-confirmed the source rates in agreement with past studies.  相似文献   

19.
David P. Page 《Icarus》2007,189(1):83-117
Outside polar latitudes, features corresponding to surface thaw have yet to be identified on Mars. The youthful gully landforms observed at mid-high latitude [Malin, M., Edgett, K., 2000. Science 288, 2330-2335] are the nearest candidate, but the source (and nature) of the gully carving agent remains controversial [e.g., Musselwhite, D.S., Swindle, T.D., Lunine, J.I., 2001. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 1283-1285; Mellon, M.T., Phillips, R.J., 2001. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 1-15; Knauth, L.P., Burt, D.M., 2002. Icarus 158, 267-271; Costard, F., Forget, F., Mangold, N., Peulvast, J.P., 2002. Science 295, 110-113; Christensen, P.R., 2003. Nature 422, 45-48; Treiman, A.H., 2003. J. Geophys. Res. 108]. At higher obliquity than the present epoch, near-surface ground ice should be present globally [Mellon, M.T., Jakosky, B.M., 1995. J. Geophys. Res. 100 (E6), 11781-11799], populated by condensation of atmospheric water vapour in the top few metres of the regolith, or emplaced as dusty ice sheets reaching down towards the equator. The latitudinal restriction of these gullies to regions poleward of ±30° appears to argue against a thaw component to their formation—since ground ice is present and stable at all latitudes at high obliquity, the current (low) obliquity regime should result in ground ice thaw at low latitudes, where insolation and daytime temperatures are currently greatest, and this is not observed. A previously undescribed meltwater sequence in the Cerberus plains, at 20° N/187° E, shows that comparable, but much more continuous, and mappable melting and surface runoff have occurred in the geologically recent past at near-equatorial latitudes on Mars. Polygonal ground in the Cerberus plains is seen by the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) to suffer sequential, regional-scale volatile-loss consistent with thaw of near-surface ground ice under periglacial conditions. This degradation is continuously sampled by a single MOC strip, showing an icy landscape undergoing thaw modification and collapse, and may form the first evidence of equatorial wet-based glaciation during late Amazonian time, with indications of melting within the last million years. The dissolution and re-formation of polygonal ground links this landform to freeze-thaw processes, providing the conclusion to a question that has been the subject of debate for three decades—whether Mars' polygonal grounds require ice to form—and a consistent explanation for the fate of the water that carved the great outflow channels, much of which may still reside as ground ice in the regolith. This thaw occurs in the Cerberus Formation; deposits that are considered to be magmatic in origin, and the type formation for late-stage, “plains-style” volcanism on Mars [Keszthelyi, L., McEwen, A.S., Thordarson T., 2000. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 15027-15049]. By superposing large numbers of small impact craters, polygonal ground in the Cerberus plains sustains previous suggestions of a non-magmatic origin for this and other landforms in the region [Page, D.P., Murray, J.B., 2006. Icarus 183, 46-54]. Together, these periglacial landforms document evidence of climate change much younger than is currently recognised by crater counts, with important implications for age constraints on young surfaces and absolute age determinations by this method. It is tentatively suggested that this melting may be occurring today, with a striking correspondence between permafrost thaw in the Cerberus plains, the high atmospheric methane flux currently observed over this region [Mumma, M.J., Novak, R.E., DiSanti, M.A., Bonev, B.P., Dello Russo, N., 2004. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 36, 1127; Krasnopolsky, V.A., Maillard, J.P., Owen, T.C., 2004. Icarus 172, 537-547; Formisano, V., Atreya, S., Encrenaz, T., Ignatiev, N., Giuranna, M., 2004. Science 306, 1758-1761], and the only latitude zone on Mars—equatorward of 30° N—where melting of ground ice is thought possible in the current climate [Haberle, R.M., McKay, C.P., Schaeffer, J., Cabrol, N.A., Grin, E.A., Zent, A.P., Quinn, R., 2001. J. Geophys. Res. 106 (E10), 23317-23326; Lobitz, B., Wood, B.L., Averner, M.M., McKay, C.P., 2001. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 98, 2132-2137]. Low-latitude polygonal ground as transient, and hydrologically active over wide areas transforms our understanding of the recent climatic evolution of Mars, supporting models of atmospheric water-ice migration [Mischna, M., Richardson, M.I., Wilson, R.J., McCleese, D.J., 2003. J. Geophys. Res. 108 (E6). 5062], complex, volatile stratigraphies [Clifford, S.M., Parker, T.J., 2001. Icarus 154, 40-79], and hypothesised, geologically recent ‘ice ages’ [Head, J.W., Mustard, J.F., Kreslavsky, M.A., Milliken, R.E., Marchant, D.R., 2003. Nature 426, 797-802]. The temporal coincidence of glacial epochs on the Earth and Mars during the Quaternary and latest Amazonian would suggest a coupled system linking both [Sagan, C., Young, A.T., 1973. Nature 243, 459].  相似文献   

20.
Saturn’s narrow F ring is flanked by two nearby small satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, discovered in Voyager images taken in 1980 and 1981 (Synnott et al., 1983, Icarus 53, 156-158). Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the ring plane crossings (RPX) of 1995 led to the unexpected finding that Prometheus was ∼19° behind its predicted orbital longitude, based on the Synnott et al. (1983) Voyager ephemeris (Bosh and Rivkin, 1996 Science 272, 518-521; Nicholson et al., 1996, Science 272, 509-515). Whereas Pandora was at its predicted location in August 1995, McGhee (2000, Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University) found from the May and November 1995 RPX data that Pandora also deviates from the Synnott et al. (1983) Voyager ephemeris. Using archival HST data from 1994, previously unexamined RPX images, and a large series of targeted WFPC2 observations between 1996 and 2002, we have determined highly accurate sky-plane positions for Prometheus, Pandora, and nine other satellites found in our images. We compare the Prometheus and Pandora measurements to the predictions of substantially revised and improved ephemerides for the two satellites based on an extensive analysis of a large set of Voyager images (Murray et al., 2000, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 32, 1090; Evans, 2001 Ph.D. thesis, Queen Mary College). From December 1994 to December 2000, Prometheus’ orbital longitude lag was changing by −0.71° year−1 relative to the new Voyager ephemeris. In contrast, Pandora is ahead of the revised Voyager prediction. From 1994 to 2000, its longitude offset changed by +0.44° year−1, showing in addition an ∼585 day oscillatory component with amplitude ΔλCR0 = 0.65 ± 0.07° whose phase matches the expected perturbation due to the nearby 3:2 corotation resonance with Mimas, modulated by the 71-year libration in the longitude of Mimas due to its 4:2 resonance with Tethys. We determine orbital elements for freely precessing equatorial orbits from fits to the 1994-2000 HST observations, from which we conclude that Prometheus’ semimajor axis was 0.31 km larger, and Pandora’s was 0.20 km smaller, than during the Voyager epoch. Subsequent observations in 2001-2002 reveal a new twist in the meanderings of these satellites: Prometheus’ mean motion changed suddenly by an additional −0.77° year−1, equivalent to a further increase in semimajor axis of 0.33 km, at the same time that Pandora’s mean motion changed by +0.92° year−1, corresponding to a change of −0.42 km in its semimajor axis. There is an apparent anticorrelation of the motions of these two moons seen in the 2001-2002 observations, as well as over the 20-year interval since the Voyager epoch. This suggests a common origin for their wanderings, perhaps through direct exchange of energy between the satellites as the result of resonances, possibly involving the F ring.  相似文献   

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