Observations of Ejecta Clouds Produced by Impacts onto Saturn's Rings

We report observations of dusty clouds in Saturn's rings, which we interpret as resulting from impacts onto the rings that occurred between 1 and 50 hours before the clouds were observed. The largest of these clouds was observed twice; its brightness and cant angle evolved in a manner consisten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2013-04, Vol.340 (6131), p.460-464
Main Authors: Tiscareno, Matthew S., Mitchell, Colin J., Murray, Carl D., Di Nino, Daiana, Hedman, Matthew M., Schmidt, Jürgen, Burns, Joseph A., Cuzzi, Jeffrey N., Porco, Carolyn C., Beurle, Kevin, Evans, Michael W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Average linear density
Cosmic dust
Ejecta
Equinoxes
Geometric angles
Geometry
Meteoroids
Particle mass
Planetology
Prior Learning
Saturn
Solar systems
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Summary:We report observations of dusty clouds in Saturn's rings, which we interpret as resulting from impacts onto the rings that occurred between 1 and 50 hours before the clouds were observed. The largest of these clouds was observed twice; its brightness and cant angle evolved in a manner consistent with this hypothesis. Several arguments suggest that these clouds cannot be due to the primary impact of one solid meteoroid onto the rings, but rather are due to the impact of a compact stream of Saturn-orbiting material derived from previous breakup of a meteoroid. The responsible interplanetary meteoroids were initially between 1 centimeter and several meters in size, and their influx rate is consistent with the sparse prior knowledge of smaller meteoroids in the outer solar system.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1233524