相关论文: Topographic Constraints on the Origin of the Equat…

Iapetus, the outermost regular satellite of Saturn, has a drastic albedo dichotomy and an equatorial circumferential ridge that reaches heights of 20 km and widths of 70 km. This moon is thought to have formed concurrently with Saturn, and…

We present a scenario for building the equatorial ridge and de-spinning Iapetus through an impact-generated disk and satellite. This impact puts debris into orbit, forming a ring inside the Roche limit and a satellite outside. This…

The Cassini spacecraft revealed the spectacular, highly irregular shapes of the small inner moons of Saturn, ranging from the unique "ravioli-like" forms of Pan and Atlas to the highly elongated structure of Prometheus. Closest to Saturn,…

Saturn has an intense and broad eastward equatorial jet with a complex three-dimensional structure mixed with time variability. The equatorial region experiences strong seasonal insolation variations enhanced by ring shadowing and three of…

Natural satellite systems present a large variety of orbital configurations in the solar system. While some are clearly the result of known processes, others still have largely unexplained eccentricity and inclination values. Iapetus has a…

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…

Saturn's moon Iapetus has an orbit in a transition region where the Laplace surface is bending from the equator to the orbital plane of Saturn. The orbital inclination of Iapetus to the local Laplace plane is ~8 deg, which is unexpected,…

We explore scenarios for the accretion of ornamental ridges on Saturn's moons Pan, Atlas, and Daphnis from material in Saturn's rings. Accretion of complex shaped ridges from ring material should be possible when the torque from accreted…

Saturn's moon Iapetus, which is in synchronous rotation, is covered by an optically dark material mainly on its leading side, while its trailing side is significantly brighter. Because longer wavelengths probe deeper into the subsurface,…

Satellite formation is a natural by-product of planet formation. With the discovery of nu- merous extrasolar planets, it is likely that moons of extrasolar planets (exomoons) will soon be discovered. Some of the most promising techniques…

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 visited the asteroid (162173) Ryugu and provided many high-resolution images of its surface, revealing that Ryugu has a spinning-top shape with a prominent equatorial ridge, much like the shapes reported…

Using numerical integrations, we find that the orbital eccentricity of Saturn's moon Iapetus undergoes prominent multi-Myr oscillations. We identify the responsible resonant argument to be $\varpi-\varpi_{g5}+\Omega-\Omega_{eq}$, with the…

The Earth-Moon system is unusual in several respects. The Moon is roughly 1/4 the radius of the Earth - a larger satellite-to-planet size ratio than all known satellites other than Pluto's Charon. The Moon has a tiny core, perhaps with only…

Here we show that Iapetus can serve to discriminate between satellite formation models. Its accretion history can be understood in terms of a two-component gaseous subnebula, with a relatively dense inner region, and an extended tail out to…

Saturn's diffuse E ring consists of many tiny (micron and sub-micron) grains of water ice distributed between the orbits of Mimas and Titan. Various gravitational and non-gravitational forces perturb these particles' orbits, causing the…

Saturn formed beyond the snow line in the primordial solar nebula that made it possible for it to accrete a large mass. Disk instability and core accretion models have been proposed for Saturn's formation, but core accretion is favored on…

Context. The extremely low density of several long-period exoplanets in mature systems is still unexplained -- with HIP 41378 f being archetypical of this category. It has been proposed that such planets could actually have normal densities…

Exomoons are expected to orbit gas giant exoplanets just as moons orbit solar system planets. Tidal heating is present in solar system satellites and it can heat up their interior depending on their orbital and interior properties. We aim…

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has an Earth-like volatile cycle, but with methane playing the role of water and surface liquid reservoirs geographically isolated at high latitudes. We recreate Titan's characteristic dry hydroclimate at the…

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…