HR: 0800h
AN: P21B-0543    [Abstracts]
TI: The vertical structure of Saturn's E ring as a consequence of the Enceladus plumes
AU: * Kempf, S
EM: Sascha.Kempf@mpi-hd.mpg.de
AF: MPI for nuclear physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
AU: Beckmann, U
EM: Uwe.Beckmann@mpi-hd.mpg.de
AF: MPI for nuclear physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
AU: Postberg, F
EM: Frank.Postberg@mpi-hd.mpg.de
AF: MPI for nuclear physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
AU: Srama, R
EM: Ralf.Srama@mpi-hd.mpg.de
AF: MPI for nuclear physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany
AU: Schmidt, J
EM: jschmidt@agnld.uni-potsdam.de
AF: Potsdam university, Am Neuen Palais 10, Potsdam, 14469, Germany
AB: Before Cassini dynamical models of Saturn's E ring failed to reproduce its peculiar vertical vertical structure as seen by earth-bound observations. After the discovery of an active ice-volcanism in the south pole area of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus the relevance of these particles for the vertical ring structure was rapidly realised. However, ad-hoc models for the plume particle injection predict too a small vertical ring thickness and overestimate the amount of the injected dust. Here we report on numerical simulations of the injection of plume particles into the ring. Furthermore, we performed long-term simulations to investigate how the initial dynamical properties of the injected dust determines the vertical ring profile. We show that only plume particles with injection speeds in excess of an effective escape speed larger than the three body escape speed of Enceladus are populating the E ring. The resulting vertical ring profile matches the measurements by the Cassini dust instrument CDA and is consistent with edge-on images obtained by the Cassini camera ISS.
DE: 5465 Rings and dust
DE: 6015 Dust
DE: 6020 Ices
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting