Analysis and Dynamics of a Saturnian Satellite at the A Ring Edge
Abstract
An object found (Murray et al. 2014) at the edge of Saturn's A ring presents a unique opportunity to investigate Charnoz et al. (2010)'s suggestion that moonlets form in the rings as well as to conduct dynamical studies near the ring edge. We track this object in Cassini images to learn its connection, if any, to Janus' co-rotation and Lindblad resonances before and after the 2014 orbital shift of Janus and Epimetheus. We find that it may have undergone an abrupt eight-kilometer shift in semi-major axis in 2013, which is unexplained by resonant effects but may be due to a collision with something in or outside of the rings. Furthermore, we propose the potential existence of another object near the ring edge, which would obviate any change in the semi-major axis of Murray's object. Such an object may have been captured in co-rotation resonance with Janus between 2010 and 2014.
- Publication:
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AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #47
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015DPS....4710406T