impacts onto the rings |
impacts onto the rings |
Apr 25 2013, 06:39 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
published today in Science
Observations of Ejecta Clouds Produced by Impacts onto Saturn’s Rings QUOTE We report observations of dusty clouds in Saturn’s rings, which we interpret as resulting from impacts onto the rings that occurred between 1 and 50 hours before the clouds were observed. The largest of these clouds was observed twice; its brightness and cant angle evolved in a manner consistent with this hypothesis. Several arguments suggest that these clouds cannot be due to the primary impact of one solid meteoroid onto the rings, but rather are due to the impact of a compact stream of Saturn-orbiting material derived from previous breakup of a meteoroid. The responsible interplanetary meteoroids were initially between 1 centimeter and several meters in size, and their influx rate is consistent with the sparse prior knowledge of smaller meteoroids in the outer solar system. see also JPL's release NASA Probe Observes Meteors Colliding with Saturn's Rings |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 24th April 2024 - 02:27 PM |
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