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Seeing ghosts - Photometry of Saturn's G RingSaturn's faint and narrow G Ring is only visible to the eye in two Voyager images, each taken at a rather high solar phase angle of about 160 deg. In this paper we introduce a new photometric technique for averaging across multiple Voyager images, and use it to detect the G Ring at several additional viewing geometries. The resultant phase curve suggests that the G Ring is composed of dust particles obeying a very steep power-law size distribution. The dust is generally smaller than that seen in other rings, ranging down to 0.03 micron. The G Ring occupies the region between orbital radii 166,000 and 173,000 km, and has a peak somewhat closer to the inner edge. Based on these limits, we demonstrate that Voyager 2 passed through and directly sampled this ring during its 1981 encounter with Saturn. Combined analysis of additional data sets suggests that a population of larger bodies is also present in the G Ring; these bodies occupy a narrower band near the observed peak and are likely the source for the visible dust. Based on some preliminary dynamical models, we propose that these larger bodies represent leftover debris from the collisional breakup of a small moon in Saturn's distant past.
Document ID
19930059712
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Showalter, Mark R.
(Stanford Univ. CA, United States)
Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Icarus
Volume: 103
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0019-1035
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
93A43709
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCA2-283
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCA2-464
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-247
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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