Ground-Based Observations of the 10 August 1995 Saturn Ring-Plane Crossing
Nicholson, Philip D.; Matthews, Keith; McGregor, Peter J.; Scharringhausen, Britt R.; Lim, Lucy
United States, Australia
Abstract
Observations at 2.3 μm at the Australian National University 2.3-m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory and the 5-m Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory from 9 to 17 August provide a longer baseline of time around the 10 August 1995 Saturn ring-plane crossing than space-based observations. The edge-on photometric thickness of the rings at a wavelength of 2.34 μm is determined to be 0.7±0.1 km, and the average geometric albedo of A- and B-ring particles at 2.276 μm is estimated to be 0.35±0.05. We do not detect any asymmetry in brightness between the east and west ring ansae.