Dynamical evolution of the Prometheus--Pandora system

Poulet, F.; Sicardy, B.

doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04128.x

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(32 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such a process is probably repeated many times, and the present F ring and its shepherd satellites would be the last system of a narrow ring with shepherd satellites created in the final stage of the formation of Saturn's ring-satellite system 4 . This scenario seems consistent with the relatively young age estimated for the F ring system 30 .…”

supporting

confidence: 90%

Saturn’s F ring and shepherd satellites a natural outcome of satellite system formation

Hyodo

Ohtsuki

2015

Nature Geosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Saturn's F ring is a narrow ring of icy particles, located 3,400 km beyond the outer edge of the main ring system. Enigmatically, the F ring is accompanied on either side by two small satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, which are called shepherd satellites 1-3 . The inner regular satellites of giant planets are thought to form by the accretion of particles from an ancient massive ring and subsequent outward migration 4-7 . However, the origin of a system consisting of a narrow ring and shepherd satellites remains poorly understood. Here we present N-body numerical simulations to show that a collision of two of the small satellites that are thought to accumulate near the main ring's outer edge can produce a system similar to the F ring and its shepherd satellites. We find that if the two rubble-pile satellites have denser cores, such an impact results in only partial disruption of the satellites and the formation of a narrow ring of particles between two remnant satellites. Our simulations suggest that the seemingly unusual F ring system is a natural outcome at the final stage of the formation process of the ring-satellite system of giant planets.Saturn's F ring was discovered in 1979 by Pioneer 11 (refs 1,8). Its unusual structures have been revealed through observations by the two Voyager spacecraft 2,3 , other telescopes 9,10 , and in far more detail by the Cassini spacecraft 11-13 . Owing to the planet's tidal force, even low-velocity collisions between particles in the ring do not necessarily lead to gravitational accretion 14,15 , and easily result in disruption 16,17 . Observations by Cassini also suggest ongoing accretion and disruption of aggregates within the ring 18-20 , but the ring's origin has been poorly understood. Dust generation due to collisions between unseen small moonlets 21,22 or meteoroid impacts onto such small bodies 23 has been proposed as the origin of the F ring, but detailed studies have not been carried out, and the relationship between the ring-formation process and the shepherd moons has not been clarified. Whereas the principal regular satellites of giant planets, such as Saturn's Titan and Jupiter's Galilean satellites, were probably formed in circumplanetary gas disks 24 , recent models show that the increasing masses of the inner regular satellites of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune with increasing distance from the central planet can be explained by satellite accretion from particles spreading from an ancient massive ring beyond the Roche limit (the distance beyond which particles can gravitationally accrete) and subsequent outward migration 4-6 . As the surface density of the particle disk decreases as a result of radial spreading, the mass of satellites formed from the disk as well as their rate of outward migration due to gravitational interaction with the ring decreases 7 . Thus, multiple small satellites tend to coexist near the disk's outer edge for a significant period of time during the final stage of satellite system formation.We perform N -body simulations of impacts betw...

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 90%

Saturn’s F ring and shepherd satellites a natural outcome of satellite system formation

Hyodo

Ohtsuki

2015

Nature Geosci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We would be remiss if we failed to mention that chaotic motions of Prometheus and Pandora are discussed in Poulet and Sicardy (2001), Dones et al (2001), and French et al (2002). Poulet and Sicardy (2001) investigate the long term evolution of the system and find intervals of chaos.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Poulet and Sicardy (2001) investigate the long term evolution of the system and find intervals of chaos. Dones et al (2001) suggest that chaos might account for unexplained motions of the satellites but do not identify the specific mechanism responsible for creating it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chaotic motions of prometheus and pandora

Goldreich

Rappaport

2003

Icarus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The gravitational torque theories on which (i) depends have now been validated by observations of moonlets clearing gaps. Some flexibility in their implications for ring age may emerge if ring-moons periodically interact and perhaps temporarily destroy each other (73) or are held up by much-sought-for, but as-yetunidentified, resonances with exterior massive moons (27). Pollution contaminates the entire system, but models rely on the poorly known incoming mass flux and ring mass (SOM text 12).…”

Section: Ring Origin and Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings

Cuzzi

Burns

Charnoz

et al. 2010

Science

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Dynamical evolution of the Prometheus--Pandora system

Cited by 27 publications

References 29 publications

Saturn’s F ring and shepherd satellites a natural outcome of satellite system formation

Saturn’s F ring and shepherd satellites a natural outcome of satellite system formation

Chaotic motions of prometheus and pandora

An Evolving View of Saturn’s Dynamic Rings

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About