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Editor's Highlight
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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 33,
L16203,
doi:10.1029/2005GL025386,
2006
On a ring origin of the equatorial ridge of Iapetus
W.-H. Ip
Institutes of Astronomy and Space Science, National Central University, Chung Li, Taiwan
Abstract
Most recent Cassini observations by the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) showed that the third largest Saturnian satellite,
Iapetus, has a curious ridge system exactly aligned with its equator [Porco et al., 2005]. Because Iapetus has a large Hill
sphere for the trapping of circum-satellitary material, a ring system might have been present during its formation. A scenario
is proposed to describe how the equatorial ridge system could have been produced by the collisional accretion of a ring remnant
subsequent to the formation of the proto-Iapetus.
Received 2
December
2005;
accepted 20
July
2006;
published 29
August
2006.
Index Terms: 6280 Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Saturnian satellites; 5465 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Rings and dust; 5744 Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets: Orbital and rotational dynamics (1221); 6025 Planetary Sciences: Comets and Small Bodies: Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields.
Read Full Article (file size: 237628 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Ip, W.-H.
(2006),
On a ring origin of the equatorial ridge of Iapetus,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
33,
L16203,
doi:10.1029/2005GL025386.
Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.
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