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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • spokes

Index Terms

  • Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Planetary rings
  • Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets: Rings and dust
  • Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Saturn
  • Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote sensing

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 37, L01203, 5 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2009GL041427

The spectrum of a Saturn ring spoke from Cassini/VIMS

E. D'Aversa

Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy

G. Bellucci

Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy

P. D. Nicholson

Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

M. M. Hedman

Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

R. H. Brown

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

M. R. Showalter

SETI Institute, Mountain View, California, USA

F. Altieri

Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy

F. G. Carrozzo

Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy

G. Filacchione

Istituto di Fisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, INAF, Rome, Italy

F. Tosi

Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF, Rome, Italy

On 2008, July, the Cassini/VIMS spectrometer detected spokes on the Saturn's B ring for the first time. These are the first measurements of the complete reflectance spectrum of the spokes in a wide spectral range (0.35–0.51 μm). Here we will focus on a single broad-shaped spoke, imaged by VIMS on July, 9. Radiative transfer modeling supports a pure water ice composition for the spoke's grains, but their size distribution is found to be wider than previously thought: preliminary results yields a modal value of about 1.90 μm (reff = 3.5 μm, veff = 0.3) and a number density of about 0.01–0.1 grains/cm3. The unexpected abundance of micron-sized grains in the spoke may have implications for the formation models since the energy requirement increases by at least one order of magnitude. These kind of observations may also constrain the size selection effects thought to be produced by the forces governing the spokes' evolution.

Received 26 October 2009; accepted 10 December 2009; published 14 January 2010.

Citation: D'Aversa, E., G. Bellucci, P. D. Nicholson, M. M. Hedman, R. H. Brown, M. R. Showalter, F. Altieri, F. G. Carrozzo, G. Filacchione, and F. Tosi (2010), The spectrum of a Saturn ring spoke from Cassini/VIMS, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L01203, doi:10.1029/2009GL041427.

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