Related papers: Vertical structures induced by embedded moonlets i…
We used 0.85 - 5.1 micron 2006 observations by Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) to constrain the unusual vertical structure and compositions of cloud layers in Saturn's south polar region, the site of a powerful…
Saturn was observed on 6-11 February 2002 using an Acousto-optic Imaging Spectrometer (AImS) to study Saturn's vertical cloud structure. The 3.67-m Advanced Electro-Optical System telescope at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex was used.…
The origin and long-term evolution of Saturn's rings is still an unsolved problem in modern planetary science. In this chapter we review the current state of our knowledge on this long-standing question for the main rings (A, Cassini…
The Encke Gap is a 320-km-wide opening in Saturn's outer A ring that contains the orbit of the small moon Pan and an array of dusty features composed of particles less than 100 microns across. In particular, there are three narrow ringlets…
Seismology of the gas giants holds the potential to resolve long-standing questions about their internal structure and rotation state. We construct a family of Saturn interior models constrained by the gravity field and compute their…
Small (~50km scale), irregular features seen in Cassini images to be emanating from Saturn's F ring have been termed mini-jets by Attree et al. (2012). One particular mini-jet was tracked over half an orbital period, revealing its evolution…
The shapes of fluid planets bear the signatures of rotational flattening and atmospheric flows. Precise knowledge of their shapes and wind profiles may therefore reveal their interior rotation rates. We re-examine this idea for the ice…
The shape of the two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, is determined primarily by their rotation rate, and interior density distribution. It is also affected by their zonal winds, causing an anomaly of O(10 km) at low latitudes. However,…
Saturn's moon Titan possesses stratospheric zonal winds that places it among a sparse class of planetary bodies known to have superrotation in their atmospheres. Few measurements have been made of these speeds in the upper stratosphere,…
In a previous paper (Hedman and Nicholson 2013), we developed tools that allowed us to confirm that several of the waves in Saturn's rings were likely generated by resonances with fundamental sectoral normal modes inside Saturn itself. Here…
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…
As it has already done for Earth, the sun, and the stars, seismology has the potential to radically change the way the interiors of giant planets are studied. In a sequence of events foreseen by only a few, observations of Saturn's rings by…
Saturn's rings consist of a huge number of water ice particles, with a tiny addition of rocky material. They form a flat disk, as the result of an interplay of angular momentum conservation and the steady loss of energy in dissipative…
We report the detection of spiral substructure in both the gas velocity and temperature structure of the disk around TW~Hya, suggestive of planet-disk interactions with an unseen planet. Perturbations from Keplerian rotation tracing out a…
We investigate the influence of collective self-gravity forces on the nonlinear, large-scale evolution of the viscous overstability in Saturn's rings. We numerically solve the axisymmetric hydrodynamic equations in the isothermal and…
The seasonal evolution of Saturn's polar atmospheric temperatures and hydrocarbon composition is derived from a decade of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) 7-16 $\mu$m thermal infrared spectroscopy. We construct a…
Plasma rotation plays a large role in determining the size and shape of Saturn's disc-like magnetosphere. A magnetosphere more confined to the equator in the polar regions is expected as a result of the interaction between this type of…
The Iapetus -1:0 nodal bending wave, the first spiral wave ever described in Saturn's rings, has been seen again for the first time in 29 years. We demonstrate that it is in fact the nodal bending wave, not the 1:0 apsidal density wave as…
We describe a model that accounts for the complex morphology of spiral density waves raised in Saturn's rings by the co-orbital satellites, Janus and Epimetheus. Our model may be corroborated by future Cassini observations of these…
We predict how a remote observer would see the brightness variations of giant planets similar to Jupiter and Saturn as they orbit their central stars. We model the geometry of Jupiter, Saturn and Saturn's rings for varying orbital and…