Monday, February 01, 2010 at 4:00 PM

JILA Auditorium

Matthew Tiscareno, Cornell Univ

"Cassini Imaging of Saturn's Rings"

Abstract:

Saturn's ring system constitutes the only astrophysical disk that is available for up-close observation. The Cassini orbiter has been conducting such observations for the past 5-1/2 years. In this natural laboratory we can study the interactions between a disk and a mass embedded within it, a configuration of interest for applications including disks around other stars and our own early solar system.

Masses embedded in Saturn's rings include not only the gap-clearing moons Pan and Daphnis, but also a population of smaller moonlets that have been inferred from the "propeller"-shaped disturbances they create in the disk around themselves. In the case of Pan and Daphnis, unexpected structure in the wavy edges of their gaps indicate that their relationship with the disk is more complex than simple models predict. In the case of propellers, changes in their orbital properties over time likely indicate, for the first time, a direct signature of the disk's influence on their orbital migration.

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