Journal
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 475, Issue 4, Pages 5474-5479Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty179
Keywords
planets and satellites: rings
Categories
Funding
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo [2016/24488-0, 2106/24561-0]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico [309714/2016-8, 305737/2015-5]
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The G ring arc hosts the smallest satellite of Saturn, Aegaeon, observed with a set of images sent by Cassini spacecraft. Along with Aegaeon, the arc particles are trapped in a 7:6 corotation eccentric resonance with the satellite Mimas. Due to this resonance, both Aegaeon and the arc material are confined to within 60 degrees of corotating longitudes. The arc particles are dust grains which can have their orbital motions severely disturbed by the solar radiation force. Our numerical simulations showed that Aegaeon is responsible for depleting the arc dust population by removing them through collisions. The solar radiation force hastens these collisions by removing most of the 10 mu m sized grains in less than 40 yr. Some debris released from Aegaeon's surface by meteoroid impacts can populate the arc. However, it would take 30 000 yr for Aegaeon to supply the observed amount of arc material, and so it is unlikely that Aegaeon alone is the source of dust in the arc.
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