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Satellite Pan
orbiting inside
the Encke
Division
Satellites
Prometheus
and Pandora orbit on
the inner resp. outer
side of the F ring
Jupiters rings
Stellar occultation
measurements indicated
asymmetric ring features
Voyager 2 pictures
revealed arcs (clumps of
material) in the Adams
ring: Fraternit, Egalit,
Libert
The Roche limit
2GM p 4
Repulsive, tidal acceleration: Ft 3
R M p Rp3 p
r 3
GM 3
4 R
Mutual attraction: Fg 2 M
3 2
R
3
1 R 1 3
Ft = Fg 2 p p r
2.5
8 r Rp
p
Rings and Roche limits
- The inner satellites are always small and have equatorial, circular orbits
(regular orbits)
- The central zone contains all the large, classical satellites, and in the
case of Saturn also some small ones. All except Neptunes have regular
orbits
- All the outer satellites are irregular (high inclinations to the equator) and
small; nearly all are recent discoveries
Origin of the satellites
The inner, small satellites orbit within or near the
Roche Limit and ring system. They appear to be
eroded remnants of tidal disruption or collisional
fragmentation
The central, regular satellites were formed by
solid accretion in a circumplanetary gas/dust disk
that may have been the result of gas capture
from the solar nebula
The outer, irregular satellites have orbits that are
influenced by the Sun more than by the
equatorial flattening of the planet; they were
captured when the planets were still young
Collisional captures
Triton
Somewhat smaller than Europa but larger than Pluto
Comparable to other large satellites with respect to distance
from the planet
Orbit is circular but retrograde!