Related papers: Constraining Saturn's interior with ring seismolog…
The excitation of density and bending waves in Saturn's C ring by planetary oscillation modes presents a unique opportunity to learn about gas giant interiors and rotation. However, theoretical complications related to Saturn's rapid and…
Seismology allows for direct observational constraints on the interior structures of stars and planets. Recent observations of Saturn's ring system have revealed the presence of density waves within the rings excited by oscillation modes…
Normal mode seismology is a promising means of measuring rotation in gas giant interiors, and ring seismology presents a singular opportunity to do so at Saturn. We calculate Saturn's normal modes of oscillation and zonal gravity field,…
Certain spiral density waves in Saturn's rings are generated through resonances with planetary normal modes, making them valuable probes of Saturn's internal structure. Previous research has primarily focused on the rotation rates of these…
Recent observations have revealed evidence for the global oscillations of Jupiter and Saturn, which can potentially provide a new window into the interior structure of giant planets. Motivated by these observations, we study the non-radial…
Saturn's rings act as a system of innumerable test particles that are remarkably sensitive to periodic disturbances in the planet's gravitational field. We identify 15 additional density and bending waves in Saturn's C ring driven by the…
Some wave features found in the C-ring of Saturn appear to be excited by resonances with normal mode oscillations of the planet. The waves are found at locations in the rings where the ratio of orbital to oscillation frequencies is given by…
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…
The best constraints on the internal structures of giant planets have historically come from measurements of their gravity fields. These gravity data are inherently mostly sensitive to a planet's outer regions, providing only loose…
Saturn's C ring contains multiple spiral patterns that appear to be density waves driven by periodic gravitational perturbations. In other parts of Saturn's rings, such waves are generated by Lindblad resonances with Saturn's various moons,…
Recent studies of stellar occultations observed by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft have demonstrated that multiple spiral wave structures in Saturn's rings are probably generated by…
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 is ringing weakly. Exquisite data from the Cassini mission reveal the presence of f-mode oscillations as they excite density waves in Saturn's rings. These oscillations have displacement amplitudes of order a metre on Saturn's…
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…
Voyager images and Cassini occultation data have previously shown that the behavior of the outer edge of Saturn's massive B ring is determined only in part by a static response to the 2:1 inner Lindblad resonance with Mimas. In Cassini…
With recent advances in the modeling of the solar system giant planets, rapid progress has been made in understanding the remaining questions pertaining to their formation and evolution. However, this progress has largely neglected the…
The ejecta discharged by impacting meteorites can redistribute a planetary ring's mass and angular momentum. This `ballistic transport' of ring properties instigates a linear instability that could generate the 100--1000-km undulations…
Saturn's C ring contains multiple structures that appear to be density waves driven by time-variable anomalies in the planet's gravitational field. Semi-empirical extensions of density wave theory enable the observed wave properties to be…
We present a review of Saturn's interior structure and thermal evolution, with a particular focus on work in the past 5 years. Data from the Cassini mission, including a precise determination of the gravity field from the Grand Finale…
Tidal interactions between Saturn and its satellites play a crucial role in both the orbital migration of the satellites and the heating of their interiors. Therefore constraining the tidal dissipation of Saturn (here the ratio k2/Q) opens…