Loss of a satellite could explain Saturn’s obliquity and young rings

Wisdom, Jack; Dbouk, Rola; Militzer, Burkhard; Hubbard, William B.; Nimmo, Francis; Downey, Brynna G.; French, Richard G.

doi:10.1126/science.abn1234

Loss of a satellite could explain Saturn’s obliquity and young rings

Journal Article · 16 September 2022 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn1234· OSTI ID:1982959

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Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.; Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092, USA.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
Department of Astronomy, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA.

The origin of Saturn’s ~26.7° obliquity and ~100-million-year-old rings is unknown. The observed rapid outward migration of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, could have raised Saturn’s obliquity through a spin-orbit precession resonance with Neptune. We use Cassini data to refine estimates of Saturn’s moment of inertia, finding that it is just outside the range required for the resonance. We propose that Saturn previously had an additional satellite, which we name Chrysalis, that caused Saturn’s obliquity to increase through the Neptune resonance. Destabilization of Chrysalis’s orbit ~100 million years ago can then explain the proximity of the system to the resonance and the formation of the rings through a grazing encounter with Saturn.

Research Organization:: US Department of Energy (USDOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Washington, DC (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

OSTI ID:: 1982959

Journal Information:: Science, Vol. 377, Issue 6612; ISSN 0036-8075

Publisher:: AAAS

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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