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Determining Titan's Spin State from Cassini RADAR Images

Iess, Luciano; Cassini RADAR Team; Stiles, Bryan W. +12 more

For some 19 areas of Titan's surface, the Cassini RADAR instrument has obtained synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images during two different flybys. The time interval between flybys varies from several weeks to two years. We have used the apparent misregistration (by 10-30 km) of features between separate flybys to construct a refined model of Titan…

Revised Orbits of Saturn's Small Inner Satellites

Porco, C. C.; Cooper, N. J.; Murray, C. D. +4 more

We have updated the orbits of the small inner Saturnian satellites using additional Cassini imaging observations through 2007 March. Statistically significant changes from previously published values appear in the eccentricities and inclinations of Pan and Daphnis, but only small changes have been found in the estimated orbits of the other satelli…

The Population of Propellers in Saturn's A Ring

Porco, Carolyn C.; Hedman, Matthew M.; Burns, Joseph A. +1 more

We present an extensive data set of ~150 localized features from Cassini images of Saturn's A ring, a third of which are demonstrated to be persistent by their appearance in multiple images, and half of which are resolved well enough to reveal a characteristic "propeller" shape. We interpret these features as the signatures of small moonlets embed…

Simulations of the Dynamical and Light-Scattering Behavior of Saturn's Rings and the Derivation of Ring Particle and Disk Properties

Dones, Luke; Porco, Carolyn C.; Weiss, John W. +3 more

We study the light-scattering behavior of Saturn's rings for the purpose of deducing the nature and distribution of the particles comprising them and the collisional and dynamical environments in which they reside. To this end, we have developed two complex numerical codes to apply to this objective. One is a geometric ray-tracing code that scatte…