DOI:10.1126/science.abn1234 - Corpus ID: 252310492
Loss of a satellite could explain Saturn’s obliquity and young rings
@article{Wisdom2022LossOA, title={Loss of a satellite could explain Saturn’s obliquity and young rings}, author={Jack Wisdom and Rola Dbouk and Burkhard Militzer and William B. Hubbard and Francis Nimmo and Brynna G. Downey and Richard G. French}, journal={Science}, year={2022}, volume={377}, pages={1285 - 1289}, url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:252310492}}- J. WisdomRola DboukR. French
- Published inScience16 September 2022
- Physics
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…
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