Ray-tracing Thermal Modeling of Saturn's Main Rings
Abstract
The main rings of Saturn can be considered a collection of few meter icy particles whose temperature mainly depends on the solar radiation and Saturn's infrared radiation. The analysis of the thermal behavior of the rings may provide important information on their composition, their structure and their dynamics. The modeling of the thermal behavior of the rings strongly depends on the proper description of the self-shadowing to the local optical depth of the different regions of the rings and their vertical structure. In this work we present a model that uses random distributions of spherical lambertian particles to simulate the different regions of the rings. We also use the ray tracing technique to reproduce the interparticle shadowing. The model considers the main sources of energy as the direct and reflected solar energy and Saturn's infrared input. Our model reproduces the general features of the temperature variations of specific regions of the main rings at different observation geometries.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFM.P31B2097F
- Keywords:
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- 6015 Dust;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: COMETS AND SMALL BODIESDE: 6213 Dust;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTSDE: 6245 Meteors;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTSDE: 6265 Planetary rings;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS