Bombardment of planetary rings by meteoroids - General formulation and effects of Oort Cloud projectiles

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Icarus (International Journal of the Solar System); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(90)90049-F· OSTI ID:6709091

Cuzzi, J N; Durisen, R H ^[1]

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1. NASA, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (USA) Indiana Univ., Bloomington (USA)

A general solution is obtained for the angular distribution of the intensity and velocity of interplanetary projectiles impinging on a planetary ring system. Three significant results emerge from the solution: (1) a variation with orbital longitude is demonstrated in the impact velocity-weighted impact rate of the planetary rings' cometary meteoroids; (2) the angular distribution of ejecta intensity due to the bombardment of a planetary ring by interplanetary meteoroids is determined; and (3) the radial drift velocity due to both simple mass-loading and aberration-induced asymmetry in the impact rate is calculated for a planetary ring of arbitrary optical depth. Attention is given to results for projectiles with Oort Cloud-type orbits. 40 refs.

• OSTI ID: 6709091
• Journal Information: Icarus (International Journal of the Solar System); (USA), Vol. 84; ISSN 0019-1035
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
PLANETS
RINGS
COLLISIONS
ANGULAR VELOCITY
COMETS
COSMIC DUST
H1 REGIONS
INTERPLANETARY SPACE
METEOROIDS
RADIAL VELOCITY
SOLAR SYSTEM
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DUSTS
SPACE
VELOCITY
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena