論文

査読有り 筆頭著者 責任著者
2015年10月1日

Saturn's F ring and shepherd satellites a natural outcome of satellite system formation

Nature Geoscience
  • Ryuki Hyodo
  • ,
  • Keiji Ohtsuki

8
9
開始ページ
686
終了ページ
689
記述言語
英語
掲載種別
研究論文(学術雑誌)
DOI
10.1038/ngeo2508
出版者・発行元
Nature Publishing Group

Saturn's F ring is a narrow ring of icy particles, located 3,400 km beyond the outer edge of the main ring system. Enigmatically, the F ring is accompanied on either side by two small satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, which are called shepherd satellites. The inner regular satellites of giant planets are thought to form by the accretion of particles from an ancient massive ring and subsequent outward migration. However, the origin of a system consisting of a narrow ring and shepherd satellites remains poorly understood. Here we present N-body numerical simulations to show that a collision of two of the small satellites that are thought to accumulate near the main ring's outer edge can produce a system similar to the F ring and its shepherd satellites. We find that if the two rubble-pile satellites have denser cores, such an impact results in only partial disruption of the satellites and the formation of a narrow ring of particles between two remnant satellites. Our simulations suggest that the seemingly unusual F ring system is a natural outcome at the final stage of the formation process of the ring-satellite system of giant planets.

リンク情報
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2508
URL
http://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2508.pdf
URL
http://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2508
ID情報
  • DOI : 10.1038/ngeo2508
  • ISSN : 1752-0908
  • ISSN : 1752-0894
  • eISSN : 1752-0908
  • SCOPUS ID : 84940570863

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