HR: 1330h
AN: P52A-0481    [PDF]
TI: Impact Flashes in Saturn's Rings
AU: * Bruesch, L S
EM: lbruesch@es.ucsc.edu
AF: University of California - Santa Cruz, Department of Earth Sciences 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95010 United States
AU: Cuzzi, J N
EM: cuzzi@cosmic.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division Mail Stop 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035 United States
AU: Asphaug, E
EM: asphaug@es.ucsc.edu
AF: University of California - Santa Cruz, Department of Earth Sciences 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95010 United States
AB: Over the past decade, impact flashes have been observed on the moon and in the laboratory in both the IR and visible parts of the spectrum. These phenomena have been used to constrain impact parameters, such as impact velocity and composition. With the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in July 2004, we embark on a study of impact flashes in Saturn's rings. We begin by modeling high energy, hypervelocity impact events using CTH, a shock physics hydrodynamics code developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The simulated impacts involve two centimeter- to meter-sized icy bodies impacting each other at velocities over 30 km/s. Each body is composed of pure water ice and incorporated into the code using an ANEOS equation of state. The resulting impact-induced vapor plume is post-processed to consider its radiative evolution. The results of this study will be used as an aid to planning observational time on Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS).
DE: 6022 Impact phenomena
DE: 6265 Planetary rings
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting