NASA | JPL-Caltech | Cassini | 2016 Feb 02
[img3="Saturn's B ring is the most opaque of the main rings, appearing almost
black in this Cassini image taken from the unlit side of the ringplane.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute"]http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA14636.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
- Researchers "weighed" the central parts of Saturn's most massive ring for the first time.
- The results confirm that more opaque areas in the rings do not necessarily contain more material.
- Research on the mass of Saturn's rings has important implications for their age.
It seems intuitive that an opaque material should contain more stuff than a more translucent substance. For example, muddier water has more suspended particles of dirt in it than clearer water. Likewise, you might think that, in the rings of Saturn, more opaque areas contain a greater concentration of material than places where the rings seem more transparent.
But this intuition does not always apply, according to a recent study of the rings using data from NASA's Cassini mission. In their analysis, scientists found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a ring might appear to be -- in terms of its opacity and reflectiveness -- and the amount of material it contains.
The new results concern Saturn's B ring, the brightest and most opaque of Saturn's rings, and are consistent with previous studies that found similar results for Saturn's other main rings. ...
The B-ring's surface mass density from hidden density waves: Less than meets the eye? - M.M. Hedman, P.D. Nicholson
- Icarus (in press 22 Jan 2016) DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2016.01.007
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1601.07955 > 29 Jan 2016