The gravity field and interior structure of Dione

During its mission in the Saturn system, Cassini performed five close flybys of Dione. During three of them, radio tracking data were collected during the closest approach, allowing estimation of the full degree-2 gravity field by precise spacecraft orbit determination.

The gravity field of Dione is dominated by J₂ and C₂₂, for which our best estimates are J₂ × 10⁶ = 1496 ± 11 and C₂₂ × 10⁶ = 364.8 ± 1.8 (unnormalized coefficients, 1-σ uncertainty). Their ratio is J₂/C₂₂ = 4.102 ± 0.044, showing a significative departure (about 17-σ) from the theoretical value of 10/3, predicted for a relaxed body in slow, synchronous rotation around a planet. Therefore, it is not possible to retrieve the moment of inertia directly from the measured gravitational field.

The interior structure of Dione is investigated by a combined analysis of its gravity and topography, which exhibits an even larger deviation from hydrostatic equilibrium, suggesting some degree of compensation. The gravity of Dione is far from the expectation for an undifferentiated hydrostatic body, so we built a series of three-layer models, and considered both Airy and Pratt compensation mechanisms. The interpretation is non-unique, but Dione's excess topography may suggest some degree of Airy-type isostasy, meaning that the outer ice shell is underlain by a higher density, lower viscosity layer, such as a subsurface liquid water ocean. The data permit a broad range of possibilities, but the best fitting models tend towards large shell thicknesses and small ocean thicknesses.