University of Leicester | 2015 Aug 05
University of Leicester study suggests universal particle distribution of Saturn’s rings
[img3="Saturn's Recycling Rings - Credit: NASA/JPL/University of ColoradoIn a breakthrough study, an international team of scientists, including Professor Nikolai Brilliantov from the University of Leicester, has solved an age-old scientific riddle by discovering that planetary rings, such as those orbiting Saturn, have a universally similar particle distribution.
This is an artist concept of a close-up view of Saturn's ring particles. The planet Saturn is seen in the background (yellow and brown). The particles (blue) are composed mostly of ice, but are not uniform. They clump together to form elongated, curved aggregates, continually forming and dispersing. The space between the clumps is mostly empty. The largest individual particles shown are a few meters across."]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... terial.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
The study, which is published in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also suggests that Saturn’s rings are essentially in a steady state that does not depend on their history.
Professor Brilliantov from the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics explained: “Saturn’s rings are relatively well studied and it is known that they consist of ice particles ranging in size from centimetres to about ten metres. With a high probability these particles are remains of some catastrophic event in a far past, and it is not surprising that there exists debris of all sizes, varying from very small to very large ones.
“What is surprising is that the relative abundance of particles of different sizes follows, with a high accuracy, a beautiful mathematical law ‘of inverse cubes’. That is, the abundance of 2 metre-size particles is 8 times smaller than the abundance of 1 metre-size particles, the abundance of 3 metre-size particles is 27 times smaller and so on. This holds true up to the size of about 10 metres, then follows an abrupt drop in the abundance of particles. The reason for this drastic drop, as well as the nature of the amazing inverse cubes law, has remained a riddle until now. ...
Size distribution of particles in Saturn's rings from aggregation and fragmentation - Nikolai Brilliantov et al
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(31):9536 (2015 Aug 04) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1503957112
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1302.4097 > 17 Feb 2013 (v1), 03 Aug 2015 (v5)