A measurement of the brightness temperature of Saturn's rings at 8-mm wavelength

The brightness temperature of Saturn's rings has been measured at 8-mm wavelength using a millimeter-wavelength interferometer. A ring brightness temperature of 12.7 + or -2 K is obtained with the assumption that the rings are of uniform brightness and the region of emission coincides with the visible A and B rings. This result is higher than comparable results obtained at centimeter wavelengths and may indicate a small increase in the thermal emission from the rings at 8 mm. The low brightness temperature places significant constraints on the nature of the ring particles and implies that they must be either highly metallic or of limited size and composed of a low-loss dielectric material such as water ice.