Gravitational influence of Saturn’s rings on its moons: a case for free granular flow

Abstract

Exploratory missions have found that regolith on interplanetary bodies can be loosely packed and freely flowing—a state that strongly affects mission plans and that may also influence the large-scale shapes of these bodies. We investigate here whether notable circumferential ridges seen on Saturn’s moons may be a byproduct of free flow of loosely packed regolith. Such ridges and other features likely record the history of the moons, and we find that if surface grains are freely flowing, then the combined gravity of Saturn itself and its tenuous ring generate similar circumferential features. Moreover, analysis of these features reveals the possibility of previously unreported morphologies, for example, a stationary torus around a non-rotating satellite. Some of these features persist even for a very low density and distant disk, which raises the prospect that nonlinear analysis of interactions from disks to moons and back again may lead to new insights.