Radial growth of an extended spoke in Saturn's B ring

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985 · Icarus; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(85)90013-2· OSTI ID:5658010

Eplee, JR, R E; Smith, B A

An analysis is reported of the pattern of radial growth of an extended spoke observed in the Voyager 2 low-resolution Saturn ring movie. The feature is atypical in that it orbits Saturn at the corotational rate for 1-1/2 hours after the onset of its formation and then undergoes a 40-min acceleration to sustained Keplerian velocities. A correlation between the dynamical phases and the radial growth modes of the spoke is observed, one that seems consistent with the plasma cloud model of spoke formation and evolution proposed by Goertz and Morfill (1983), taken in the limit of high charge density. 13 references.

• Research Organization: Arizona, University, Tucson
• OSTI ID: 5658010
• Journal Information: Icarus; (United States), Vol. 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
SATURN PLANET
RINGS
ANGULAR VELOCITY
LORENTZ FORCE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ORBITS
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
VOYAGER SPACE PROBES
ATMOSPHERES
DISTRIBUTION
PLANETS
SPACE VEHICLES
VEHICLES
VELOCITY
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena