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Kronoseismology: Using Density Waves in Saturn's C Ring to Probe the Planet's Interior

Nicholson, P. D.; Hedman, M. M.

Saturn's C ring contains multiple spiral patterns that appear to be density waves driven by periodic gravitational perturbations. In other parts of Saturn's rings, such waves are generated by Lindblad resonances with Saturn's various moons, but most of the wave-like C-ring features are not situated near any strong resonance with any known moon. Us…

Meter-sized Moonlet Population in Saturn's C Ring and Cassini Division

Colwell, Joshua E.; Esposito, Larry W.; Lewis, Mark C. +1 more

Stellar occultations observed by the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph reveal the presence of transparent holes a few meters to a few tens of meters in radial extent in otherwise optically thick regions of the C ring and the Cassini Division. We attribute the holes to gravitational disturbances generated by a population of ~10 m boulders in…

Local Variability in the Orbit of Saturn's F Ring

Cooper, N. J.; Murray, C. D.; Williams, G. A.

We present an analysis of the orbit of Saturn's F ring using images recorded by the Imaging Science Subsystem of the Cassini spacecraft. A total of 9805 observations have been made from 10 image sequences obtained between 2006 November 23 and 2009 July 28. Each sequence of up to 240 images spans a single orbit of the F ring, allowing 10 independen…