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A new perspective on the irregular satellites of Saturn - II. Dynamical and physical origin

Marzari, F.; Tosi, F.; Turrini, D.

The origin of the irregular satellites of the giant planets has been long debated since their discovery. Their dynamical features argue against an in situ formation suggesting that they are captured bodies, yet there is no global consensus on the physical process at the basis of their capture. In this paper, we explore the collisional capture scen…

Dynamical evolution of Saturn's F ring dust particles

Sfair, R.; Winter, O. C.; Mourão, D. C. +1 more

Saturn's F ring has been the subject of study due to its peculiar structure and the proximity to two satellites, named Prometheus (interior) and Pandora (exterior to the ring), which cause perturbations to the ring particles. Early results from Voyager data have proposed that the ring is populated with centimetre- and micrometre-sized particles. T…

Synchronization mechanism of sharp edges in rings of Saturn

Spahn, F.; Schmidt, J.; Shepelyansky, D. L. +1 more

We propose a new mechanism which explains the existence of enormously sharp edges in the rings of Saturn. This mechanism is based on the synchronization phenomenon due to which the epicycle rotational phases of particles in the ring, under certain conditions, become synchronized with the phase of external satellite, e.g. with the phase of Mimas in…