PLANETARY RINGS
J.N. Cuzzi, I. Mosqueira,
M. Showalter, F. Poulet (NRC)
In addition to the natural
curiosity inspired by their exotic appearance, planetary rings present a unique
dynamical laboratory for understanding the properties of collisional particle
disks which might help us understand the accretion of the planets. Ames scientists
are involved in a number of different aspects of planetary ring studies.
An ongoing Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) program to observe the rings while they "open up" as seen from
Earth over the last five years (see Figure) has produced over 100 images in
a variety of filters. Analysis of these images using a newly developed surface
scattering code has led us to the conclusion that the increasing redness of
the rings which we found occurs as the angle between the Sun and Earth increases,
is caused by unusually rough surfaces on the ring particles. This supports the
concept that a ring "particle" is actually an ensemble or aggregation of smaller
"particles" - a lumpy snowman-like of fractal structure. Further analysis will
help us gain insight into how this structure varies across the rings, on scales
that can never be observed directly (tens of meters or less). In addition, this
modeling and analysis has established that the abrupt brightening of the rings
as the Sun-ring-Earth angle gets very small, which has been previously ascribed
to the disappearance of shadows, is more likely due to optical interference
effects within the grainy surface of individual particles. This result helps
us reconcile the brightening with dynamical expectations that the ring particles
are collapsed into a fairly thin, dense layer due to inelastic collisions rather
than being many particles thick as had been previously thought. We also hunted
down a discrepancy between Voyager and HST color observations of the rings,
tracing it to an incorrect Voyager calibration. We can now compare Voyager and
HST color data directly, and find that the two data sets are in very good agreement
from the standpoint of spatial color variations. We find that variations of
color, which trace out particle compositional variations, vary with radius and
ring opacity in a way that is quite unusual and will be addressed in future
analysis.
The systems of large (and
small) regular moons that orbit the gas giant outer planets have always been
cited as "solar systems in miniature" but their own origin has remained a puzzle.
One recent area of interest is the two outer Galilean moons of Jupiter (Ganymede
and Callisto), which are of very similar mass and size, yet have very different
internal structure. We have developed a two-stage accretion scenario, which
postulates a long-lived, secondary accretion stage onlyfor Callisto involving
debris which forms in a very extended disk of material extending far out beyond
the boundaries of the current satellite system. A small amount of gas remaining
in this disk causes solid material to drift slowly inwards onto the outermost
moon, accreting without providing much heating. In addition, a study of the
thermal internal evolution of a realistic Callisto was carried out, including
ice phase change boundaries and plastic ice convection, showing that a sufficiently
slow accretion rate would indeed preclude melting of the icy component and prevent
complete differentiation of the icy and rocky material.
Ames maintains the Planetary
Data System's Rings Node (http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/), which archives and
distributes ring data from NASA's spacecraft missions and from Earth-based observatories.
We now have on line the entire archive of images from the Voyager missions to
the giant planets, with catalogs to help users find the images they need. We
have also produced interactive search and geometrical visualization utilities
to assist Cassini scientists in planning observations of the rings during the
upcoming tour (2004-2008). Ames also provides the Cassini project with the Interdisciplinary
Scientist for Rings and Dust, who chaired the Rings Discipline Working Group
this year as it worked through initial ring science sequence planning.
Figure caption: HST observations
of Saturn since 1996, during which time the ring opening angle has increased
from about 4 degrees to about 24 degrees. Data of this quality is available
to us in over eight color filters. Voyager data is of higher spatial resolution,
but only three filters are available - fortunately they are nearly identical
to three of the HST filters.