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Related papers: Aegaeon (Saturn LIII), a G-ring object

200 papers

The near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon is an intriguing object: its perihelion is at only 0.14 au and is associated with the Geminid meteor stream. We aim to use all available disk-integrated optical data to derive a reliable convex shape…

The Phoebe ring, Saturn's largest and faintest ring, lies far beyond the planet's well-known main rings. It is primarily sourced by collisions with Saturn's largest irregular satellite Phoebe, perhaps through stochastic macroscopic…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-18 Daniel Tamayo , Matthew M. Hedman , Joseph A. Burns

We present observations at optical wavelengths with the Cassini Spacecraft's Imaging Science System of the Phoebe ring, a vast debris disk around Saturn that seems to be collisionally generated by its irregular satellites. The analysis…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-05-25 Daniel Tamayo , Stephen R. Markham , Matthew M. Hedman , Joseph A. Burns , Douglas P. Hamilton

The first observations of Saturn's visible-wavelength aurora were made by the Cassini camera. The aurora was observed between 2006 and 2013 in the northern and southern hemispheres. The color of the aurora changes from pink at a few hundred…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-10-28 Ulyana A. Dyudina , Andrew P. Ingersoll , Shawn P. Ewald , Danika Wellington

Saturn's E ring consists of micron-sized particles launched from Enceladus by that moon's geological activity. A variety of small-scale structures in the E-ring's brightness have been attributed to tendrils of material recently launched…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-07-20 M. M. Hedman , M. Young

Saturn has a dynamically rich satellite system, which includes at least three orbital resonances between three pairs of moons: Mimas-Tethys 4:2, Enceladus-Dione 2:1, and Titan-Hyperion 4:3 mean-motion resonances. Studies of the orbital…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2022-03-02 Matija Ćuk , Maryame El Moutamid

A new model for the shape of the prominent eccentric ringlet in the gap exterior to Saturn's B-ring is developed based on Cassini imaging observations taken over about 8 years. Unlike previous treatments, the new model treats each edge of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-08-31 Joseph N. Spitale , Joseph M. Hahn

Methone and Anthe are two tiny moons (with diameter $<3$ km) in the inner part of Saturn's E ring. Both moons are embedded in an arc of dust particles. To understand the amount of micron-sized dust and their spatial distribution in these…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-10-28 Kai-Lung Sun , Martin Seiss , Frank Spahn

The distinctive set of Saturnian small satellites, Aegaeon, Methone, Anthe, and Pallene, constitutes an excellent laboratory to understand the evolution of systems immersed in co-orbital dusty rings/arcs, subjected to perturbations from…

The leading face of Saturn's moon Iapetus, Cassini Regio, has an albedo only one tenth that on its trailing side. The origin of this enigmatic dichotomy has been debated for over forty years, but with new data, a clearer picture is…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-28 Daniel Tamayo , Joseph A. Burns , Douglas P. Hamilton , Matthew M. Hedman

D68 is a narrow ringlet located only 67,627 km (1.12 planetary radii) from Saturn's spin axis. Images of this ringlet obtained by the Cassini spacecraft reveal that this ringlet exhibits persistent longitudinal brightness variations and a…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-18 M. M. Hedman , J. A. Burt , J. A. Burns , M. R. Showalter

Saturn's main rings exhibit variations in both their opacity and spectral properties on a broad range of spatial scales, and the correlations between these parameters can provide insights into the processes that shape the composition and…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2013-01-14 M. M. Hedman , P. D. Nicholson , J. N. Cuzzi , R. N. Clark , G. Filacchione , F. Capaccioni , M. Ciarniello

The Gaia satellite, planned for launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2013, is the next generation astrometry mission following Hipparcos. While mapping the whole sky, the Gaia space mission is expected to discover thousands of Solar…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2012-12-04 M. Todd , P. Tanga , D. M. Coward , M. G. Zadnik

Interior to the orbits of Jupiter's iconic Galilean moons are four small satellites with individual mean radii, $R\lesssim 84$ km. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that these bodies formed at a more distant location in Jupiter's…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-24 Ian R. Brunton , Konstantin Batygin

We present astrometric observations of the Saturnian satellites Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea from Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) narrow-angle camera (NAC) images. Image sequences were designed to observe mutual…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2014-11-26 N. J. Cooper , C. D. Murray , V. Lainey , R. Tajeddine , M. W. Evans , G. A. Williams

We present an analytical model to study the dynamics of the outer edge of Saturn's A ring. The latter is influenced by 7:6 mean motion resonances with Janus and Epimetheus. Because of the horseshoe motion of the two co-orbital moons, the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-07-17 N. C. S. Araujo , S. Renner , N. J. Cooper , M. El Moutamid , C. D. Murray , B. Sicardy , E. Vieira Neto

Epimetheus, a small moon of Saturn, has a rotational libration (an oscillation about synchronous rotation) of 5.9 +- 1.2 degrees, placing Epimetheus in the company of Earth's Moon and Mars' Phobos as the only natural satellites for which…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2013-02-25 Matthew S. Tiscareno , Peter C. Thomas , Joseph A. Burns

Previous investigations of Saturn's outer D ring (73,200-74,000 km from Saturn's center) identified periodic brightness variations whose radial wavenumber increased linearly over time. This pattern was attributed to a vertical corrugation,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-23 M. M. Hedman , J. A. Burns , M. R. Showalter

In this article we explore the aspect of the F ring with respect to the anti-alignment configuration between the ring and Prometheus. We focus our attention on the shape of the F ring's azimuthal channels which were first reported by Porco…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-13 Carlos E. Chavez

We present a deep optical survey of Uranus' Hill sphere for small satellites. The Subaru 8-m telescope was used to survey about 3.5 square degrees with a 50% detection efficiency at limiting red magnitude m = 26.1 mag. This magnitude…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 Scott S. Sheppard , David Jewitt , Jan Kleyna