Scattering properties of a moonlet (satellite) embedded in a particle ring: Application to the rings of Saturn |
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| Institution: | 1. Sigma Space Corporation, 4600 Forbes Blvd., Lanham MD 20706, United States;2. Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States;3. Deptartment of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139, United States;1. Planetary Science Institute, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China;2. CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, China;3. University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA;4. Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics and Electricity, Beijing, China;5. State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Science, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China;6. China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, China;7. Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;8. Xi''an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Key Laboratory of Spectral Imaging Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi''an, China |
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| Abstract: | The gravitational influence of moonlets or satellites on the radial structure of the rings of Saturn has been calculated numerically. A drastic change in the surface mass density is obtained even after a single scattering process of the ring particles on a moonlet (satellite). The final surface density shows a significant radial structure, which has been used to estimate the radius and the mass of moonlets or satellites embedded in rings of low optical depth (E ring, Cassini division, C ring). |
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