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Cassini-Huygens Surprises: Today and Tomorrow

Cassini-Huygens Surprises: Today and Tomorrow. Linda Spilker Cassini Project Scientist EGU Press Conference 29 April 2014. Bright Feature Discovered at Edge of Ring. Cassini discovered and tracked a bright, extended feature at the very outer edge of Saturn ’ s A Ring

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Cassini-Huygens Surprises: Today and Tomorrow

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  1. Cassini-Huygens Surprises: Today and Tomorrow Linda Spilker Cassini Project Scientist EGU Press Conference 29 April 2014

  2. Bright Feature Discovered at Edge of Ring Cassini discovered and tracked a bright, extended feature at the very outer edge of Saturn’s A Ring Discovery image taken in April 2013 Murray et al 2014, Icarus

  3. A New Moon is Born??? • Bright ring feature appears to be associated with the birth of a small, icy infant moon • The object, nicknamed “Peggy,” disturbs nearby ring particles at ring edge • “Peggy” is ~2 km across and creates an entourage of particles that stick together in a bright arc about 1,200 km long and about 10 km wide • Planets may form in a similar fashion from a ring-like disk orbiting a star “The discovery and dynamical evolution of an object at the outer edge of Saturn’s A ring,” Murray, C.D., Cooper, N.J., Williams, G.A., Attree, N.O., Boyer, J.S., Icarus (2014), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.024

  4. “Proto-Peggy” Clumps Cast Shadows near Equinox • Small objects form near A ring outer edge • ~0.5 km radius from shadow projections • Could be proto-Peggy clumps • Outer region of A ring might be moonlet “nursery”

  5. Cassini’s Final Four Years: Unique Science FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 • Explore new seasons at Saturn and Titan until northern summer solstice • Titan: Look for waves on lakes and seas; measure depth of largest lake • Enceladus: Sample plume emission for last time; best high resolution view of north pole • Rings: Best lighting angle on lit rings (spring 2015 onward) • Late, close orbits provide completely new, in-situmeasurements • Without Cassini, these types of observations could not be fulfilled for decades to come

  6. More Wonders Await To view coming attractions video, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

  7. Back up Slides

  8. Peggy Headed Back into Ring • In one year, Peggy’s location has moved inward ~5 km, back into Saturn’s A ring • Migration caused by possible collisions with A ring clumps • Plan to continue to monitor Peggy’s progress • Unique opportunity to study planetary formation in a dusty disk White arrows: Predicted location with no orbital migration Black arrows: Current location of Peggy feature Recent image from C. Murray and N. Cooper

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