Satellites of Saturn
Abstract
C. Roddier and F. Roddier, Institute for Astronomy (IfA), University of Hawaii; A. Brahic, Observatoire de Paris; and J. E. Graves, M. J. Northcott and T. Owen, IfA, report: "Images of Saturn's rings, taken in Aug. 1995 with the University of Hawaii adaptive-optics system mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, have now been deconvolved and carefully processed. They show evidence for at least nine additional objects all orbiting in the F ring. A good orbital fit (including the effects of the Saturnian J2 and J4 harmonics) was obtained for all of them with a single distance of 140 500 +/- 500 km. The following list includes the three objects already announced on IAUC 6407. As before, the longitudes (uncertainty +/- 1 deg) are for the epoch 1995 Aug. 10.5 TT (at Saturn) and are measured from the ascending node of Saturn's equator on the earth's J2000.0 equator: S/1995 S 11, longitude 302 deg, estimated radius 12 km; S/1995 S 9, 317, 16; S/1995 S 12, 320, 10; S/1995 S 7 = 1995 S 8, 325, 20; S/1995 S 13, 330, 12; S/1995 S 14, 46, 16; S/1995 S 15, 105, 12; S/1995 S 16, 114, 10; S/1995 S 17, 116, 10; S/1995 S 18, 118, 10; S/1995 S 19, 120, 10; S/1995 S 5 = 1995 S 10, 131, 20. We also find some evidence for S/1995 S 11, S/1995 S 15, S/1995 S 16 and S/1995 S 17 in the HST data (cf. IAUC 6243). S/1995 S 12 is part of the possible S/1995 S 9 arc structure mentioned on IAUC 6407, now resolved into two components; we no longer see evidence for arc structures. The 12 objects listed above cover a total longitude range of 135 deg. Assuming that objects are uniformly distributed, one can estimate that the F ring contains some 32 of them with radii larger than 10 km."
- Publication:
-
International Astronomical Union Circular
- Pub Date:
- December 1996
- Bibcode:
- 1996IAUC.6515....1R