The findings flowing incessantly from the Cassini spacecraft unfold before the researchers another sheet of data about the world of Saturn's rings and to that extent open up a new series of questions regarding the way of their formation and the dynamics operating within them.
(Note: The article was prepared before the last discovery in the matter A moon that is the source of the G ring material)
introduction
The findings flowing incessantly from the Cassini spacecraft unfold before the researchers another sheet of data about the world of Saturn's rings and to that extent open up a new series of questions regarding the way of their formation and the dynamics operating within them. The world of accumulated knowledge about these rings will allow in the future to design new spacecraft that will be launched towards Saturn.
A possible mission is a spacecraft that will attack Saturn within the ring belt and that can be maneuvered during its operation to check local phenomena within this wonderful world and perhaps also enter orbit around the tiny moons that are in between or land micro spacecraft on them.
A ring
A greater number of fragments were found in this ring than they had estimated based on the data of the Voyagers. It was estimated that the ring is transparent to a large extent since the amount of material observed was very small. The observations made by the Cassini showed that the opacity of the ring is 35% higher. Due to the asymmetric size distribution of the ring particles from dust particles up to several meters, the transparency of the ring depends on the viewing angle. The particles are arranged in blocks whose dimensions are 5.3 X 5.3 X 20 meters. The ring is dense on its inner rim. Under the influence of Saturn's gravity the particles are in a constant state of disintegration and crystallization (1).
The phenomenon of "wakes" reported in previous observations was seen again. It is a series of small moons 10 meters long in the configuration of blades located in a narrow strip inside the ring. The impression is that they are the remains of a large moon that crashed due to a meteorite or comet impact. The width of the strip is 3200 km (2).
B ring
The outer rim of the ring is in a state of resonance with the moon Mims. Every two orbits of particles in this region around Saturn is equal to one orbit of Mims around Saturn. Inside the ring is a Cassini interval which also includes a narrow and bright ring (3). Since this ring is the densest of Saturn's rings, it diffuses less sunlight from below and reflects more light from above, more so than the A and C rings (4).
One of the ways to investigate the ring was observation when the array of rings collided with any stars. A kind of eclipse of the stars. Such observations are made in different geometrical arrays. The rings always hide these stars, but the Cassini is not in a straight line with them but views them at different angles, similar to computed tomography. Examining the glow of the stars in these transitions allowed a three-dimensional mapping of the rings and a better recognition of the configuration of the spaces within the ring and the direction of the clumps of particles within it. These observations confirmed the assumption that there is a gravitational pull between the ring particles that form the ring and clumps of particles. If these particles were far from Saturn they would continue to grow to the dimensions of a moon. Due to their proximity to Saturn, their orbital speeds around Saturn work against this gravitational pull, so they stretch like toffees and move away from each other and away from each other. The result is that these clumps regularly cluster and break up as soon as they get within 30-50 meters of each other. At any given time, most particles tend to aggregate into clumps, but they move from one clump to another, with clumps breaking up and new ones forming in their place.
The particles in the ring collide with other particles continuously and the resulting lumps act like super sized particles while influencing the expansion of the ring. The particles are visible in all areas of the ring that are not dim. One of the surprises was that the blocks are wide and flat like large sheets of particles. Their width is 5-10 times greater than their thickness. These blocks are flatter than the spaces between them and smaller than their counterparts in ring A(5).
D ring
This ring is the innermost of Saturn's rings and strangely enough it turned out to behave in a wavy manner. This continuous dynamics has led to the hypothesis that the ring is the product of a recent collision of the rings with a foreign body. Confirmation for this hypothesis is the reality of a series of thin rings (ringlets). In the outer part of the ring between one wave and another there is a fixed interval of 30 km. When you look along the plane of the ring, you can see that the outer part of the ring is light and the inner part is dark (from the observer's point of view and vice versa). The phenomenon occurs when a "core" of fine material appears folded like a thin ceiling. The changes in brightness correspond to changes in the varying slopes in the material of the ring. Periodic intervals between the waves were observed in 1995 when the Hubble telescope observed the outer rim of the ring and the size of the intervals was 60 km. Naturally, the telescope had additional targets, so the number of observations towards Saturn was limited. This margin seems to have shortened over the years similar to the shortening of a spring. In order to deepen the examination, an extrapolation was made back in time and it was found that the change of the spiral began in 1984. It is believed that the source of this is a comet or asteroid hitting the ring which threw out a cloud of fine material that "inherited" part of the inclination of the orbit of the offending body. Another possibility is that this body hit an inclined moon, tearing it apart and these fragments remained in an inclined orbit (6).
E ring
High-resolution photographs confirmed a hypothesis that Enceladus' geysers are the source of the particles that make up the ring. The photographs taken from the plane of the rings and in their end view from their outer rim see a double appearance of them. The reason for this is that the rings are thinner closer to their plane at an altitude of 500-1000 km above and below the plane of the ring. This phenomenon is probably a product of the fact that the particles surround the ring in inclined orbits. The range of angular variation is small. A similar thing was observed in the thin ring that surrounds Jupiter and the band of dust found in the asteroid belt. There are two explanations for this phenomenon. According to one explanation, the particles emitted from Enceladus that are fixed in orbit around Saturn begin their journey with a large range of orbital inclinations, but those orbiting Saturn close to the plane of the rings are spread by the gravitational forces and removed from the ring (7).
Examining the photographs showed changes in color along the rings indicating processes that sort the particles according to their size. When you look at the rings from one side of Saturn, you see a red core with a blue halo around it, and when you look at it from the other side, the trend is reversed. The inner side is blue and around a red ring (8).
F ring
This ring is the most dynamic of the Saturn rings. The changes taking place in it are on different time scales, from hours to years. The examination of the photographs taken between the years 2006-2007 showed that there are structures called jets inside it and they are the product of collisions between small moons moving inside the ring and its core. The explanation for this activity is a 5 km diameter body discovered by Cassini in 2004 and the name given to it is S/2004 S6. The ring and the bodies near it oscillate under the influence of the moon Prometheus accompanying them. This moon has a gravitational seal on the objects operating within it. Additional formations in the ring are called fans and are a product of the gravitational effects of a small moon with a diameter of 1 km orbiting Saturn near the core of the ring (9).
Another phenomenon found in the ring was defined as "streamers like objects". It is estimated that inside the ring there are moons orbiting Saturn together with the rings. When they are seen near the ring core they leave a gravitational imprint. In some cases they can pull out streamers, a kind of scaled-down version of the interaction between Prometheus and the F ring material. The dynamics between the two cases are the same, but the scales are different (10). There are cases where Prometheus is seen near the ring and it splits into two (11,12,13,14).
G ring
Inside this ring is a bright arc 250 km wide (compared to the 5915 km width of the entire ring). The arc has been observed several times since Cassini's arrival in 2004, which means it has a long lifespan. This ring is in a reciprocal relationship with the Mims Moon. Computer simulations indicate that the moon has a gravitational influence on the rainbow. A similar phenomenon in the solar system was observed in the rings of Neptune. The measurements show a reduction in the amount of charged particles near the bow in 2005. Apparently an invisible mass in the arc absorbed these particles. The mass of the small dust particles is not large enough to absorb this energy, which means that more mass is scattered in the arc. The size of the particles in it ranges from a grain of dust to small rocks. Their total mass is equivalent to a small moon with a diameter of 100 meters.
The ring itself was probably formed from relatively large ice particles found in a bright arc located on its inner rim. These particles are confined within the arc by the gravitational effect of Mims. Micro meteorites collide with the particles releasing smaller dust particles that illuminate the rainbow. The plasma in Saturn's magnetic field passes through this ring and carries with it the particles that form the ring (15).
new ring
A film produced from 600 consecutive photographs over two days on 16.3.07-18.3.07 revealed a dynamic, visible-light invisible ring of energetic ions trapped in Saturn's magnetic field. This ring was named ring current. This film makes it possible to notice the changes that occur in the ring over time. The ring has a tube shape and at certain points it looks as if it has been bitten. The ring's distance from Saturn is 5 times that of the known rings and it has not been mapped so far (16).
The ring is not symmetrical in its structure and is affected by the solar wind. This wind tilts it out of Saturn's equatorial plane on its night side and thickens it considerably on the day side. Saturn's orbit speed is almost equal to that of itself. The main origin of the ring plasma is from the gas emitted from the geysers of Enceladus. In the vicinity of the Earth, ring currents are formed during magnetic storms driven by the solar wind, although they fade when the solar wind advances deep in space. In the vicinity of Saturn, the ring is full of clumps and circles it several times. The film footage shows the energetic strength of the charges emitted from this ring through a process called charge exchange. This process occurs when an energetic trapped ion steals an electron from a cold gas atom becomes neutral and escapes the magnetic field. The possibility of the existence of this ring was already discussed in the 80s following magnetic anomalies observed by Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 although not on a global scale. Hexini allowed for the first time a complete mapping of it (17).
Rainbows and new moons
When the Cassini passed through a constant flux of electrons near Saturn it was bombarded by these particles and in two places there were breaks in this flux. It turned out that these breaks occur along the coffee orbits of new moons discovered by Cassini, the 3 km diameter Ethone which was discovered in 2004 and the 2 km diameter Anthe which was discovered in 2007. The lunar orbits are located between Mims and Enceladus. The discovery of these moons showed that even such small bodies can be a source of dust in the Saturnian system. By nature, these moons absorb high-energy particles. The fact that no dust particles were found by the X-rays indicates gaps in the electron flux. Something big absorbs the charged particles. The distances that Cassini saw near these moons vary between 1000-3000 km and it is impossible to explain their size only through the presence of these moons. The measurements can indicate that these moons are losing dust from their surface and one or more arcs are being built along their path. The length of each arc is supposed to be thousands of kilometers and within them grains or clumps of dust. This material can develop into ring arcs due to the gravitational effects of Saturn and large moons such as Mims. A similar thing was observed in the arc inside the G ring. The most likely source of material loss from these moons is a meteorite impact. Rings of a similar origin were discovered in the Cassini photographs along the orbits of the moons Janus, Epimetheus and Phalan. What is interesting is that these arcs have not yet been observed by Cassini. The knowledge about them is a product of insights and conclusions while the rings of Janus, Epimetheus and Phalan were indeed photographed. This means that the grains that build these two sets of rings and arcs have different properties (18). In photographs taken later, these arches are indeed visible. An example of this is a photograph taken on 4.4.2008. In this photograph you can see the moon Anthe and it turned out that it can be found in the front or in the tail of one of the arcs. In the PIA 11100 photograph the arc splits into two and merges later (19).
new rings
In one of the observations in which the Mesh was behind the rings, a new and thin ring was discovered that circled Saturn in time with the moon Phalan, which was 4 km in diameter. The width of the ring is 2500 km and it is between ring E and ring G (20). In the observation that took place on September 15.9.2006, 8, a thin ring was discovered between ring A and ring B. These join other rings discovered by the Cassini and which could not be discovered by the Voyager spacecraft due to their low resolution. These rings were probably formed due to the impact of various bodies on the moons or large particles. These collisions released material from their surface and formed sparse rings and remained in the orbit of the affected bodies (XNUMX).
spokes
This phenomenon has been known for years. In the PIA 08877 photograph of the Cassini, you can see spokes that reach 5000 km in length spread radially along the plane of the rings. They are believed to be radial upon formation. The spokes visible in this photograph were created at the same time. A combination of the spokes shear intensity and their radial distance from Saturn gives an estimate as to the time of their formation, 100 minutes before this photograph was taken (21).
Blades
These are material inclusions previously identified within ring A. In photograph PIA 10079, 8 new blades were identified within this band. It is believed that these blades are the result of accretion of material around small moons that are not massive enough to clear the ring of material but are massive enough to attract small particles to them to form these blades. Their distribution in the ring is not symmetrical within the ring, they are grouped in a strip that is 3000 km long. The length of the long blade in the photo is 150 meters (22).
The Streamers
The streamers we referred to in the description of the F ring are also in the vicinity of the moon Prometheus. When this moon reaches its furthest point from Saturn, it is close to the F ring. At this point its gravity is strong enough to pull material out of the ring's core. At first these material particles are in front of the moon in its orbit, later they are behind it because the speed of the material movement is lower than that of Prometheus and these material clusters are getting longer. The formation of the Streamers is in the same cycle as that of Prometheus. When Prometheus approaches the far point he pulls material from the ring since the speed of the moon is greater than that of the ring, the material is pushed back (23).
A solar eclipse to test the rings
At the end of two years of observations of Saturn, a moment arrived that the researchers were especially waiting for. This is a situation where Saturn hides the Sun. As far as the spacecraft is concerned, a solar eclipse. This eclipse lasted 12 hours, long enough to observe the rings and map the movement of the particles within. This observation makes it possible to learn new details regarding the past of Enceladus and to plan future passages of the Cassini between the rings with as little damage as possible. In these measurements it is also possible to reveal the structure of the rings. In this type of observation, small particles focus the light directly on the viewer and it is possible to observe thin rings that are usually difficult to observe. These rings become bright and it is possible to distinguish their various details. The entire space between Enceladus and the G ring is exposed. The rings can all be photographed from the E ring inward towards Saturn. It is known that the E ring is a sparse ring and that it extends beyond the G ring to beyond Enceladus. On the face of it, this moon appears to be the source of the ring's material. If the ring is uniform in its structure, this means that the activity of the geysers is constant over time. If lumps or thin rings are found, it means that the emission rate of the material is random (24).
Sources
1. 'Cassini changes earlier belief about Saturn A ring"6.4.2006
2. 'New – Cu-boulder study confirms first known belt of moonlets in Saturn ring"25.10.07
5. 'Cassini 'CAT scan' maps clumps in Saturn's rings"22.5.07
7. 'Cassini uncovering more secrets of Saturn's rings"6.7.2006
8. 'Cassini finds more light by telltale small particles"12.10.2006
9. 'Cassini sees collisions of moonlets on Saturn ring"
12. PIA09918: Shifting Strands
15. 'Cassini finds possible origins of one of Saturn's rings"3.8.2007
16. PIA10095: Saturn's “Ring Current”
17. 'Cassini images invisible ring around Saturn"12.12.2007
18. 'High energy electron holes reveal unseen rings"26.2.2008
19. PIA11100: Anthe's faint arc
24. 'Rings of Saturn to shine as never seen before"18.9.2006
24 תגובות
Haim Mazar - congratulations on the article.
And for everyone else - it's a pleasure to read the comments... they are in themselves worth an article (at least most of them) or in-depth research. I am convinced that a place can be found for an article on "the nature of the reactions and talkbacks" in some theological section.
To Michael R.
Anna your response-to my response-to your first response-to the article about gravitational waves - a pair of black holes. Thanks .
To my father.
In my opinion, you, as the editor of the site, are allowed to edit and even censor the responses to the articles, and this without asking permission from the commenters. Of course, as much as your time allows.
I believe that most readers will welcome this, as I do.
Thanks and good luck.
Michael,
You may be right. In any case, I am very annoyed by the non-stop chain of comments that deal with nonsense instead of real scientific discourse. It is not enough that the majority of the public is as far from science as east is from west, so they come here too and interfere with the conduct of an important and excellent site.
lion:
Your offer to ignore ignores several facts.
One is that false and impersonating responses may mislead teenagers who may think they are part of the reasonable scientific discourse and thus affect the creation of the next generation of morons.
The second is that the matter of ignoring has been tried unsuccessfully more than once.
The third is that when someone lies and accuses you of lying - you have almost no choice - you have to respond if you don't want people to believe him.
In the past there were many more swans on the site and they have decreased recently precisely because they are responding to them in an assertive manner.
I really wonder about all the Berbers and especially about "Q". Kudos to my father, the site manager, for establishing and supporting for years an exceptional scientific site that brings to the public interested in science summaries of the hot news in all fields of science.
Those who are not interested in science, should not enter the site and waste my father's time.
For everyone else, if you don't respond to every stupid or angry comment they will disappear by themselves.
Pine,
Interesting and fun blog. Thanks to Q for the referral.
Q,
I see we need to talk again. Please call me.
I'm sorry Roy, I ended my conversation with you at the foot of the article 'There is no mystery of the Bermuda Triangle', but if you want to help with my total deletion work on your knowledge site, here are the main nicknames attributed to the keystrokes in it:
Qantas in possession, Hugin Munin and Odin, unicorn, Q, H
Do the rest of the work of the computer in erasing the gigi yourself.
Pine:
There were almost always some delusional people here who loaded the site with nonsense.
However, many times there were also interesting discussions here.
This time Hugin requested that we delete all traces of her appearance here in the past, so I really hope she is tired of us. I know that this type of response only makes her react, but that's only true if she hasn't really decided to leave us.
It is somewhat similar to Eric Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount on the eve of the outbreak of the Intifada.
It is superficial to blame him for the Intifada - he only made the demon that was preparing to come out of the bottle anyway - to do so at a time that would prevent taking steps that ignore his existence.
Michael,
I suggest you not to rejoice prematurely. We have seen in the past that precisely such statements as yours, especially after she "threatened" that she would not continue to respond, only provoked her again.
She doesn't really mean it anyway. Not to mention that she is only going to Purim, for a few days, and she will return.
And besides, as they say, *pips* don't disappear, they just change. Probably ignorance also operates according to some law of conservation of energy.
Beyond that, until I also try to drive with restraint.... Yay! 🙂
post Scriptum.
I only came to the site a few months ago and all I know in that time is that beyond a few serious discussions (which I enjoyed), the majority revolved around trying to fend off the people who are trying to delay science (consciously or unconsciously) as much as possible. Can any of the veterans tell me if there was a time when there were serious, in-depth and knowledge-expanding discussions on the site? If so, I would love to be able to return to this era.
there is!
She said we got rid of Anasha!
I hope that this is indeed the case and that it will once again be possible to find the relevant references in the discussions without having to (how do you say?) dig through the wave of garbage.
Q
Probably, in the circles closest to you, people roll their eyes in admiration and admiration when you use phrases such as:
* "parallel intraplanetary civilization"
* "Saturn collects free energy bursts in space"
* "We see currents attributed to magnetic effects in the same area of the Bermuda Triangle"
But here, on the site of science, using these sentences only makes your beacon of stupidity shine far and wide.
Some of the reactions you receive originate from the discomfort that people feel towards you - after all, no one enjoys seeing you squirm and expose your naked nakedness in public
Excellent article, detailed and educated.
It's amazing that there is so much to learn about objects that science seems to know about every many years.
Hoggin, Q and any other name you find for yourself next time, leave the site to us.
My father is honest.
You must understand that I am not interested in other people to whom you or others attribute all kinds of prejudices and ignorance of the blood-traced governor.
I'm me and I ask to remove every comment and keystroke I had on your site.
My request does not come from whimsy, but rather from my respect, honesty, clarity of mind and intellect (even if it is not attainable for you) and your wish.
I hope that when you return safely, you will respect the desire of this site to be a scientific site and not be a back door stage for all kinds of tomato juice nonsense.
I'm still annoyed that the toll money I pay goes to Miriam Benjamin.
Shabbat error: from July 2008
Avi,
On the contrary, delete all comments attributed to me and my nicknames starting from July 2007.
I am flying to Warsaw for Purim.
When I return, I would be happy not to see a trace of me, my words and writings on your site.
Don't work too hard, let Michael Rothschild do the job of completely erasing you.
He is the number one expert on this.
All the best to you, and happy holidays 🙂
Hugin I delete your comment.
Lately the whole site has been filled with comments as long as the exile, which do not teach anyone anything.
I am referring to your responses and the desperate attempts of several people to curb your statements which at best are empty and at worst successful.
I am forced, therefore, to also delete the comments written by people trying to get you back on track.
I hope I don't have to do it again.
Haha, Hugin… 🙂
And how do you explain that the origin of the name Uranus is in Hebrew? (named after a Greek god, because he was only discovered in the 18th century) as opposed to Saturn (Saturn in Loez) who was known even in the time of the Greeks (probably even before) and has a hybrid version? How do you decide when to interpret one planet name according to the foreign name and one according to the Hebrew name?
Is it according to the same criteria by which you separate nonsense from New Age knowledge?
It seems to me that many things flow from you (among them poetry - one of the few "positive" things), but no words of wisdom.
Noam,
What is not clear? Saturn behaves like a quantum particle, just on a large scale. And therefore behaves as a particle (star) and a wave at the same time! And from there we will jump straight to the conclusion, from the data we received from the escape of light from Uranus, that there is a direct relationship between mass and energy! And you implied that "New Age" contributed nothing to science! Aha!!!
The truth is, I didn't come up with it on my own, until I was inspired by Hogin. I wonder why I didn't learn it in the quantum course... It was probably in the continuation course Quantum 2 that I chose not to take... Hugin, you are an inexhaustible source of knowledge. Amazing
Q
Fascinating... It seems to me that you have come up with something important
Please explain and expand on how Einstein's laws of mass (?) can be understood through the "free energy bursts in space" that he collects
Saturn.
Also, the connection of quantum theory to Saturn is also particularly innovative and fascinating,
Please expand on the subject
Precisely because you asked:
Hugin's annoying sayings :), if you want:
*Saturn is a complex of space and time. That is, it collects and returns to it free energy intrusions in space and thus 'disables' interplanetary leakage, therefore it is also called 'Saturn'.
(It can be used to understand the laws of mass that Einstein proposed)
In contrast: the next after him, *Uranus (manusor or = escape of light or release) which was only revealed in 1781 by Herschel: (Herschel) whose frenetic characteristic is characterized by energetic bursts as particle flashes - the quantum wave, and was found to also break through and refine the dimension of time through *rings - Saturn.
This additional information can give anyone who really wants to understand more and investigate more and really also think, as if differently and in the correct 'intelligent' proportion, a more expansive explanation for the phenomena of the minds/all boundary breakers/general intelligences imbued with flashes, flashes and all the ideas that are inclined, disturbed and up to The bizarre about Al-Time and Space, the breaking of the dimensions/internet, MDB, high tech and everything that science investigates nowadays.
*In the end, quantum theory will also crash into Saturn in structured and continuous processes.
And * the closing sentence: "Know where you flow from, where you blow, and where you eventually return"!! 😉
Although Saturn is the sixth planet, in the past the moon and the sun were considered to be planets that orbit the Earth. Therefore, it turns out that Saturn is the seventh planet (which "circles the Earth"). The seventh day is Saturday, hence the name Saturn. Makes sense doesn't it? 🙂
Why the name Saturn?