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Published byBrett Terry Modified over 9 years ago
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Jupiter (Galileo) Saturn (Cassini) Uranus (Hubble) Neptune (Voyager)
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Everything You Need to Know about Ring Dynamics
Newton: Force = Mass x Acceleration Law of Gravity Collisions Light-scattering Physics
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Main ring Dark side = High “phase angle”: emphasizes tiny dust grains
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“Halo” “Gossamer ring” discovery
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Dusty rings must be sustained by source bodies
Two “Gossamer” rings Dusty rings must be sustained by source bodies (seen or unseen)
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A B C D F Encke Gap Cassini Division Lit side = Low “phase angle”: emphasizes large bodies
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Earth! Enceladus F Unique high-phase view! G E
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“Geysers” on Enceladus
= the source of the E ring
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Cassini On-line Resources
Cassini Main Site The latest raw images (cool!) Imaging Team Web Site
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The “Opposition Surge” on Saturn’s rings.
This appears exactly opposite to the direction to the Sun, at phase angle 0°. The size of the surge is a measure of how rough the particles are.
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The main rings of Uranus
Imaged by Voyager 2 Low phase = big particles epsilon lambda delta gamma eta beta alpha 6, 5, 4
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The rings of Uranus at high phase
> dust belts!
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Uranus in HST
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Long exposures reveal rings
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Overlaying frames shows moons
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Processing shows new rings!
nu ring Mab & the mu ring
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Adams ring Leverrier ring Fraternité Egalité Liberté Courage
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Neptune’s Changing Arcs
The arcs can now be detected by Hubble and ground-based telescopes. Since 1989, the leading arcs have advanced forward and faded. Gravity effects of the nearby moon Galatea help to confine the arcs …but the model is in trouble!
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Fun with Rings (1) Vertical Ripples
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D ring ripples that have been winding up since 1984!
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Fun with Rings (2) Satellite “Wakes”
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Wavy edge of Encke Gap suggests an embedded moon. Perturbed central ringlet Color enhancement reveals “spiral” structure.
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The discovery of Pan in a sequence of five Voyager images
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direction to Pan A spectacular view of the Pan wake from Cassini
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Pan Imaged at Fine Resolution by Cassini
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The Discovery of Daphnis in the Keeler Gap:
The wake is highly distorted
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Saturn’s Pathological F Ring
Fun with Rings (3) Saturn’s Pathological F Ring
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Ophelia Cordelia Two moons “shepherd” the epsilon ring of Uranus
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Distant Voyager approach image:
Is the F ring shepherded too? Pandora Prometheus
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A Selection of Cassini Images
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Prometheus produces a “wake” pattern just like Pan
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The aftermath of a ring impact?
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A recent, new feature 200 km inward from the central ring
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2007: A Good Year ahead for Ring Science…
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Cassini Extended Mission July 2008–June 2010
Sample Tour Science planning is proceeding. Note that this period includes the equinox on August 11, 2009!
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New Horizons at Jupiter February 28, 2007
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The first images of Jupiter from New Horizons Range is 1 AU
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Sample planned images during the New Horizons flyby
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