Abstract
OBSERVATIONS of the brightness of ring A of Saturn, indicate that it is not constant in azimuth. This was discovered by Camichel1, and later studied by me2. Reitsema et al.3 and Lumme and Irvine4, have confirmed these observations. The A ring is fainter in quadrants following conjunction of the particles with the Earth–Saturn line, and brighter in quadrants preceding conjunction. No azimuthal brightness variation of this type is found for the B-ring5. Because these observations do not show any time dependence, the effect is stationary. We will call this, fact A. A possible explanation for it has been given by Colombo et al.8. Here we give an alternative explanation for fact A, which would be valid if the particles in ring A are large, which we will show is indeed the case, using a recent measurement11 of the total mass of the rings.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Camichel, H. Ann. Astrophys. 21, 231–242 (1958).
FerrĂn, I. Astrophys. Space Sci. 33, 453–457 (1975).
Reitsema, H., Beebe, R. & Smith, B. Astr. J. 81, 209–215 (1976).
Lumme, K. & Irvine, W. Astrophys. J. Lett. 204, L55–L57 (1976).
FerrĂn, I. Icarus 22, 159–174 (1974).
Pollack, J. Space Sci. Rev. 18, 3–93 (1975).
Franz, O. & Millis, R. L. Icarus 24, 433–442 (1975).
Colombo, G., Goldreich, P. & Harris, A. W. Nature 264, 344–345 (1976).
Franklin, F. & Colombo, G. Icarus 12, 338–347 (1970).
FerrĂn, I. Icarus 26, 45–53 (1975).
McLaughlin, W. I. & Talbot, T. D. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 179, 619–633 (1977).
Jeffreys, H. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 107, 263–267 (1947).
Alfvén, H. Astrophys. Space Sci. 6, 161–171 (1970).
Baxter, D. C. & Thompson, W. B. Astrophys. J. 183, 323–336 (1973).
Veverka, J. & Duxbury, T. C. J. geophys. Res. 82 (in the press).
Lightman, R. P. & Eardley, D. M. Astrophys. J. 187, L1–L3 (1974).
Alfvén, H. Science 173, 522–527 (1971).
Elliot, J., Dunham, E. & Mink, D. Nature 267, 328–330 (1977).
Millis, R., Wasserman, W. H. & Birch, P. V. Nature 267, 330 (1977).
Franklin, F., Colombo, G. & Cook, A. Icarus 15, 80–92 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FERRIN, I. Azimuthal brightness variation of Saturn's ring-A and size of particles. Nature 271, 528–529 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271528a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271528a0
This article is cited by
-
Physical studies of the planetary rings
Space Science Reviews (1980)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
