Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to An interesting "thing" in the 35 km wide Keeler gap around Saturn

Two likely end-members
nick hoffman — (archived)

1) The small moon Daphnis has captured one of the density waves and is in the process of accreting it
2) Daphnis has been at least partly fragmented by tidal interaction with the density waves, and is in the process of losing some mass.

A time-series of images, sensibly annotated with acquisition date will help.

One end of the cigar (or more precisely, one focus) is in a similar position as Daphnis in other images. It should be totally straightforward to check orbital period and confirm that it is in the expected orbital position, or not.

The time series may show the beginning of the feature, or some evolution of it, or of the density waves it is generating. Changes in the wave pattern could be linked to changes in the Moon...

Close, but no cigar!

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