Evidence that a Novel Type of Satellite Wake Might Exist in Saturn’s E Ring

Abstract

Abstract Saturn’s E ring consists of micron-sized particles launched from Enceladus by that moon’s geological activity. A variety of small-scale structures in the E ring’s brightness have been attributed to tendrils of material recently launched from Enceladus. However, one of these features occurs at a location where Enceladus’s gravitational perturbations should concentrate background E-ring particles into structures known as satellite wakes. While satellite wakes have been observed previously in ring material drifting past other moons, these E-ring structures would be the first examples of wakes involving particles following horseshoe orbits near Enceladus’s orbit. The predicted intensity of these wake signatures is particularly sensitive to the fraction E-ring particles on orbits with low eccentricities and semimajor axes just outside of Enceladus’s orbit, and so detailed analyses of these and other small-scale E-ring features should place strong constraints on the orbital properties and evolution of E-ring particles.