Satellite 'wakes' and the orbit of the Encke Gap moonlet

A general model is developed for the quasi-periodic optical depth fluctuations observed in photopolarimeter and radio occultation profiles near the Encke Gap of Saturn's rings, which may be the gravitational 'wakes' of a moonlet orbiting within the same gap. The results obtained are used to estimate the moonlet's orbit and mass from the occultation data. In view of the present treatment's neglect of particle collisions and self-gravity, the longitude is consistent with other estimates based on a photopolarimeter scan exterior to the gap. The consistency of the orbit parameters inferred from photopolarimeter, radio, and wavy edge data strongly suggests that a single, dominant moonlet orbits within the gap.