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Abstract
We analyze stellar occultations by Saturn’s rings observed with the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph and find large variations in the
apparent normal optical depth of the B ring with viewing angle. The line-of-sight optical depth is roughly independent of the viewing angle
out of the ring plane so that optical depth is independent of the path length of the line-of-sight. This suggests the ring is composed of virtually
opaque clumps separated by nearly transparent gaps, with the relative abundance of clumps and gaps controlling the observed optical depth. The
observations can be explained with a model of self-gravity wakes like those observed in the A ring. These trailing spiral density enhancements
are due to the competing processes of self-gravitational accretion of ring particles and Kepler shear. The B ring wakes are flatter and more closely
packed than their neighbors in the A ring, with height-to-width ratios <0.1 for most of the ring. The self-gravity wakes are seen in all regions of
the B ring that are not opaque. The observed variation in total B ring optical depth is explained by the amount of relatively empty space between
the self-gravity wakes. Wakes are more tightly packed in regions where the apparent normal optical depth is high, and the wakes are more widely
spaced in lower optical depth regions. The normal optical depth of the gaps between the wakes is typically less than 0.5 and shows no correlation
with position or overall optical depth in the ring. The wake height-to-width ratio varies with the overall optical depth, with flatter, more tightly
packed wakes as the overall optical depth increases. The highly flattened profile of the wakes suggests that the self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s
B ring correspond to a monolayer of the largest particles in the ring. The wakes are canted to the orbital direction in the trailing sense, with a
trend of decreasing cant angle with increasing orbital radius in the B ring. We present self-gravity wake properties across the B ring that can be
used in radiative transfer modeling of the ring. A high radial resolution (∼10 m) scan of one part of the B ring during a grazing occultation shows
a dominant wavelength of 160 m due to structures that have zero cant angle. These structures are seen at the same radial wavelength on both
ingress and egress, but the individual peaks and troughs in optical depth do not match between ingress and egress. The structures are therefore not
continuous ringlets and may be a manifestation of viscous overstability.
2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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give the following Zσ = Z I bounds on the measured optical With I0 fixed, the background in the known clear gaps in the
depth, τn : rings is given by b = I − I0 . The background level drops by one
# $ % third between the outermost gap in the Cassini Division at R =
τ± = µ ln I0 − µ ln I0 exp(−τn /µ) ∓ Z I0 exp(−τn /µ) + b , 120,300 km and the Encke Gap at R = 133,600 km. We set b
(3) in the B ring at the minimum count level observed when the
where Z is the number of standard deviations away from the star was behind the opaque core of the B ring at R = 105,000
measurement and I0 and b are measured in counts. The proba- to 110,000 km. We then modeled b with a linear decrease from
ble errors in b and in I0 are usually smaller than the statistical the outer Cassini Division across the A ring, with a value in the
uncertainty, and they are discussed in the detailed summary of Encke Gap set by I − I0 there. A constant value of b in the
each occultation below. Ultimately, when we apply our simple B ring part of the observation is expected given that the HSP
field of view is filled by the illuminated optically thick B ring.
geometric model of self-gravity wakes to the data, we intro-
As a check on the linear model we calculated the fraction of the
duce an additional error which is the deviation of the model
HSP field of view that is filled by ring material, weighted by
results due to the model imperfections in describing the actual
optical depth using the Voyager PPS occultation profile (Lane
arrangement of ring particles. In these summaries we describe
et al., 1982). We then tied the resulting curve to the gaps where
our determination of b and I0 and the corresponding uncer-
the background value can be directly measured. The resulting
tainties in τn for each occultation included in this analysis. We
curve differs from the linear model by less than 20 counts/s out
discuss the stellar occultations first, in chronological order, fol-
of 600–800 counts/s depending on the location.
lowed by the solar occultations.
In the multiple gaps of the Cassini Division the background
derived from the HSP field of view filling factor was a slightly
2.1. ξ 2 Ceti occultation worse fit to the observations than the linear model because
the filling factor model had an increasing background where
Cassini observed the occultation of the star ξ 2 Ceti by the the data were consistent with a constant or decreasing back-
rings on 2004-280 to 2004-281 (October 6–7) with the UVIS ground. The constant value of b = 800 ± 10 counts/s in the
HSP. The Far Ultraviolet Spectrograph channel (FUV) also ob- B ring core is consistent with the data out to R = 115,000 km
served the occultation which was the most distant stellar occul- where I − b becomes negative. The reflected sunlight measured
tation to be observed by Cassini (Table 1). The large distance with the FUV across the rings is consistent with this picture,
of Cassini from Saturn and the foreshortening of the rings re- but is contaminated by starlight and therefore not used in refin-
sulted in only 5–7 spatial elements of the FUV detector filled ing the background model. For the B ring regions studied here
with ring material, and the star signal in two of these detector we therefore adopt a linear decrease in b from 800 counts/s at
rows. This poor spatial coverage limits the utility of the FUV R = 114,000 km to 772 counts/s at R = 118,000 km with a
observation in providing an independent measurement of the probable error in b estimated at 10 counts/s across the B ring.
background. The speed of the star across the rings projected in The data with this background model subtracted are shown in
the radial direction varied between 0.88 km/s at the inner edge Fig. 2 binned by 50 points (0.4 s) and smoothed to approx-
of the C ring and 1.03 km/s in the outer A ring where the ob- imately 20 km resolution. Below we compare measurements
servation ended. The total duration of the occultation from the at 50 km resolution; for this occultation that resolution cor-
cloud tops to the F ring was 23.5 h. The occultation was ob- responds to about 50 s of data. We estimate the probable er-
served in two parts separated by a downlink of spacecraft data. ror in our model value of b at that resolution to be ±200
The first observation covered the inner portion of the C ring; counts or comparable to the statistical uncertainty in the sig-
the outer C ring data were lost due to downlink problems. The
second observation began while the star was behind the dense
core of the B ring at R = 109,000 km and continued to near the
outer edge of the A ring at R = 135,500 km.
The large distance of the spacecraft from Saturn for this oc-
cultation also meant that a large portion of the ring system was
within the HSP 6 mrad field of view. The star is north of Sat-
urn’s ring plane so at the time of the occultation Cassini was
observing the lit face of the rings. Because the star is relatively
dim and the sampling intervals in the ring plane are closely
spaced we can estimate the star brightness from the change
in the signal at edges of optically thick rings and ringlets. The
Huygens ringlet at R = 117,800 km in the Cassini Division has
sharp edges and is optically thick, and the outer edge of the
B ring has a peak in optical depth that brings the measured sig-
nal down to the background level. The measured difference in
I between the Huygens ringlet and the Huygens gap interior to Fig. 2. HSP data from three occultations at 50 km resolution, with the back-
the ringlet gives I0 = 1430 ± 10 counts/s. ground removed (see text).
Self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s B ring 131
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nal of I . In the optically thick B ring the probable error in surements due to the viewing geometry, we model the back-
I0 at this resolution is much smaller and does not contribute ground from the HSP measurements of gaps and opaque re-
significantly to our estimated error of the optical depth or ring gions in the rings. We find I0 = 4550 counts/s with a prob-
transparency. able error of 30 counts/s. The difference in I0 between revs
We set the minimum measurable transmitted signal Imin = 8 and 10 is real. We could not find a single value for I0
I − b = 200 counts at 50 km resolution based on the probable that fit both occultations. This may be due to instrumental ef-
error in b; this corresponds to a maximum normal optical depth, fects: we have observed different count rates of the same star
τmax = 1.51. At this resolution the statistical uncertainty in the in different calibration observations suggesting long-term un-
optical depth is )τ < 0.03 at local optical depth minima and modeled variability in instrument sensitivity, perhaps related to
)τ < ±0.2 everywhere that τ < τmax . As τ approaches τmax the ramp-up behavior described above. The background model
the upper error bar becomes infinite because the probable er- consists of 7 linear segments from the middle B ring to the
ror in b prevents us from distinguishing that signal from zero F ring. In the B ring region studied here, the background in-
transparency. creases from b = 1730 counts/s at R = 103,213 km to b =
1920 counts/s at R = 108,000 km, followed by a decrease
2.2. 126 Tauri occultations to b = 1770 counts/s at R = 116,500 km and then another
increase to b = 1835 counts/s at R = 118,000 km. This is
The star 126 Tauri (126 Tau) was observed by Cassini on followed by a monotonic decrease in b across the Cassini Di-
its orbital revolutions (revs) 8 and 10 of Saturn. The 126 Tau vision and A ring. We estimate the probable error of b to be
rev 8 occultation (126Tau8 hereafter) was an egress occulta- 40 counts/s. Setting Imin = 40 counts/s, τmax = 1.7 with un-
tion that spanned the entire ring system with a data dropout in certainties in the optical depth of )τ < 0.06 in the outer B ring.
the middle of the C ring. The occultation was observed from
∼20 RS resulting in a 9-h track across the rings with a radial 2.3. δ Aquarii occultation
sampling interval in the ring plane of 3 m in the inner C ring
to 5.5 m in the F ring. The occultation was also observed with The star δ Aquarii (δ Aqr) was observed on 2005-141 (rev 8)
the FUV channel on the lit face of the rings, and the long du- following the first 126 Tau occultation and an occultation of the
ration of the occultation provided a high signal-to-noise map of star α Virginis (Spica) that did not reach the B ring. This is
the ring reflectance in the FUV (Fig. 3). This map was used in the faintest UV star occultation observed by UVIS in the initial
conjunction with HSP measurements of the signal in gaps and phase of the Cassini mission. However, the dependence of ap-
opaque regions of the rings to derive a background model. The parent optical depth on viewing angle discussed below is such
data binned by 500 points to 1-s resolution in time are shown in that light from δ Aqr at B = 12.2 degrees and φ ≈ 55 degrees
Fig. 4 with our background model. was able to penetrate all of the A ring as well as much of the
With this background model we determine I0 = 4244 inner and outer portions of the B ring. Because of the relatively
counts/s. We bin the data to 50 km resolution, or about 200 s in low count rate from the star the accuracy of the background de-
the outer B ring. In the B ring, where the background is nearly termination has a stronger effect on the derived optical depths
constant, we estimate the probable error of b to be 20 counts/s. than in occultations of the brighter stars.
Setting Imin = 20 counts/s, τmax = 1.93, with uncertainties in The FUV channel observed the δ Aqr occultation provid-
the optical depth of )τ < 0.01. ing an independent measure of the background. The occulta-
The rev 10 occultation of 126 Tau (126Tau10) was an ingress tion was observed from the unlit face of the rings which kept
occultation. The star passed behind Saturn in the inner B ring the background signal below even that of the faint star; the
at R = 103,000 km. There is a data dropout in the A ring ramp background signal is dominated by Lyman-α emission from
in the outer Cassini Division. Cassini revs 8 and 10 have the interplanetary Hydrogen shining through the rings. Observa-
same geometry, and the 126Tau10 occultation is the ingress tions of dark sky as well as the shadowed rings with the HSP
portion of the 126Tau8 egress occultation. Scattered light is have a mean counting rate due to Lyman-α of approximately
less in 126Tau10 because it is on the night side of the planet 150 counts/s (Chambers et al., 2007). The image of the oc-
while 126Tau8 egress was on the day side. The orientation of cultation in the FUV also demonstrates that starlight is passing
the FUV spectrograph slit on the rings for the 126Tau10 occul- through the inner and outer regions of the B ring as well as
tation is more nearly radial across the rings than for 126Tau8 the A ring (Fig. 5). To model the background we averaged and
in which the detector rows immediately adjacent to those with smoothed the signal in the rows of the FUV detector on either
the star signal cut nearly radially across the rings. Because the side of the two rows with the star signal to get the dependence
distance from Saturn was large for both occultations (∼23 RS of the background on radial position in the ring plane. We then
for 126Tau10), the resolution from row to row of the detector is scaled this curve to the HSP signal, I , in the opaque part of
∼1400 km in 126Tau10. the B ring at 100,000–105,000 km where we assume the star
The scattered light measurements of the rings with the FUV signal is completely attenuated. This is a safe assumption given
in 126Tau10 are consistent with a nearly constant background that occultations of much brighter stars observed by UVIS (Sec-
across the B ring and a linear decrease across the A ring. Be- tion 2.5) as well as Cassini Radio occultations (Marouf et al.,
cause of the low resolution of the FUV measurements and 2005) were unable to penetrate this dense core of the B ring. We
significant row-to-row variations in the scattered light mea- then determine the star signal I0 = 515 counts/s from the sig-
132 J.E. Colwell et al. / Icarus 190 (2007) 127–144
Fig. 5. FUV image of the δ Aqr occultation. The occultation slit is oriented
vertically and time increases from left to right. There are 164 records with a
duration of 60 s each in the observation. The star was centered in the slit and
Fig. 3. FUV image of the rings made during the 126Tau8 occultation. The star is
the signal from the star is seen on the central two of 64 spatial elements of the
centered in the spectrograph slit which is oriented vertically and time increases
imaging spectrograph. The planet is the pink feature at left. The color scheme
to the right. The color image was made by assigning red to Lyman-α emission,
is the same as in Fig. 2. The observation was of the unlit face of the rings, so the
and green and blue to longer wavelengths in the FUV where water ice does not
opaque B ring is dark. The star signal is visible everywhere except the dense
absorb. The rings are blue in this scheme with the sky red due to interplanetary
core of the B ring. The faint blue line at the right is scattered sunlight from the
hydrogen. The star is visible in the central few rows. The vertical bands are due
unresolved F ring. The C ring is also visible in scattered sunlight, shown in blue
to bleeding of the bright star signal across the spatial dimension of the FUV
in this image, just interior to the dark B ring.
detector. Scans of the ring brightness above and below the rows with star signal
were used to model the shape of the background in the HSP occultation data.
Fig. 6. FUV image of the α Leo occultation. The occultation slit is oriented
vertically and time increases from left to right. There are 160 records with an
Fig. 4. HSP data from the 126Tau8 occultation binned to one second intervals
integration period of 60 s each. The color scheme is the same as in Fig. 2. The
(1.5 to 2.8 km radial resolution) together with the background model (dashed
star emerges from behind the planet at left before being occulted by the A ring
line) constructed from the scattered light measurements with the FUV and fits
which is in the shadow of the planet. The occultation path crosses the shadow
to opaque and clear regions in the rings (see text). The increase in the back-
boundary near the outer edge of the Cassini Division before making a grazing
ground close to the planet is due to scattered light from Saturn. This is the most
cut across the outer B ring. The star signal is clearly seen through the B ring.
complicated background model of the occultations discussed here due to the
Also obvious is the asymmetry between the transmitted starlight in the A ring
relatively high b/I0 ratio and the changes in b during the occultation.
on egress (right edge of image) and ingress (portion in shadow; Colwell et al.,
2006). The vertical bands are due to bleeding of the bright star signal across the
nal I = I0 + b in known gaps in the Cassini Division and A ring spatial dimension of the FUV detector.
and between the A and F rings.
Statistical fluctuations in I as well as probable errors in both the uncertainties at those larger values of tau are so big as to
I0 and b mean that the quantity I − b can be negative. We render the measurement meaningless. At our selected value of
select a positive minimum detectable signal of Imin = I − b Imin = 5.5 counts/s, the uncertainty in optical depth at τ = τmax
that at 50 km resolution results in a maximum optical depth of is )τ ∼ 0.4. However, most of the areas of the B ring chosen
0.95. While smaller values of Imin give a nominally larger τmax , for this study have a one-σ uncertainty in τn of )τ = ±0.02
Self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s B ring 133
to 0.03, although some locations were at the maximum value of occultation at a time resolution of 60 s with the star near the
τn = 0.95. Those measurements were not included in the analy- central row of the 64 spatial pixel FUV detector. The FUV sig-
sis below. nal is dominated by light from the star even in rows far from
the star due to bleeding of the star signal. Any scattered light
2.4. α Leonis occultation from the rings is not separable from the starlight in the FUV
data. The background may be less on the more transparent por-
The α Leonis (α Leo, Regulus) occultation on Cassini orbital tions of the ring, but here we analyze the optical depths in the
rev 9 was a grazing occultation that penetrated to a minimum optically thick B ring. The total signal is much greater than the
ring plane radius of 114,150 km (Fig. 6). The egress (outbound) background for this occultation, so even changes as large as a
portion of the occultation was observed out to a ring plane ra- factor of two in the background have a small effect on the cal-
dius of 131,550 km. The mean signal, I , in the gaps in the culated optical depth in those more tenuous rings.
A ring and the Cassini Division varies between 4.5 × 104 and The mean signal, I , just before the star is occulted by the
4.8 × 104 counts/s. The gap signals increase with time indicat- outer edge of the A ring, is 1.200 × 105 counts/s, and in the
ing that the variation is mainly due to the instrument response Huygens gap just prior to immersion behind the B ring the sig-
to a bright star and not background variations. These count nal is 1.199 × 105 counts/s. With b = 103 ± 102 counts/s we
rates are significantly higher than the minimum count rates ob- adopt I0 = 1.19 × 105 counts/s for this occultation. The max-
served in the more optically thick regions of the A ring of 300 imum value of τn is τmax = 3.43, set by our assumption of the
counts/s on ingress (when the occultation was in the shadow of uncertainty in the background and requiring I − b to be greater
the planet, Fig. 6). than that uncertainty. With this large estimate of the uncertainty
During both the ingress and egress cuts of the B ring the in b, the 1-σ statistical uncertainty in τn is ∼0.08 at the max-
occultation was not in shadow and the background is higher. imum values of τn and is less than 0.01 throughout the rest of
However, the B ring was not opaque to this star, and on egress the B ring. At the specific positions in the B ring we analyze in
the A ring was particularly transparent due to the viewing an- detail below, the 1-σ error bars in τn are )τ = 0.004 or less.
gle with respect to the self-gravity wakes (Fig. 6; Colwell et
al., 2006). This prevents a direct measurement of the back- 2.6. α Scorpii occultations
ground signal for the latter part of the occultation. The signal,
I , is lower in the Cassini Division gaps in the egress portion The α Scorpii revolution 13 (α Sco 13) occultation track
of the occultation than in the ingress portion, even though the was a chord that traversed the outer portion of the ring sys-
background signal must be higher due to the illumination geom- tem to a minimum ring plane radius of 101,172 km, just in-
etry. We attribute this to the instrument response time variation terior to the dense B ring core. The Cassini VIMS instrument
described above. In the outer Cassini Division in the egress por- was the primary instrument for α Sco observations, and UVIS
tion of the occultation the signal, I , has recovered to nearly took data as a “rider.” UVIS detects light from α Sco B, the
the same level that it had at that location in the ingress por- distant (3 arc-s) binary of α Scorpii (Antares), while Antares it-
tion. We adopt I0 = 4.6 × 104 counts/s with a probable error self is detected by VIMS.1 We do not have FUV data of this
of 1 × 103 counts/s for the B ring and egress portions of the occultation. The star is relatively dim in the UV so the HSP
occultation, though I0 = 4.7 × 104 counts/s is more appropri- ramp-up effect is small. Like the σ Sgr occultation, this one
ate for the ingress A ring occultation. This makes a difference of was observed from above the unlit face of the rings. The back-
3.6 × 10−3 in τn . We estimate the background b = 300 counts/s ground is significantly smaller for α Sco, however, due to less
on ingress to a ring plane radius of R = 122,000 km followed scattered light from Saturn. In the B ring core, the minimum
by a linear increase with decreasing radius to b = 1500 counts/s signals are b = 120 counts/s and b = 100 counts/s on ingress
at R = 117,600 km. We estimate the probable error in the back- and egress, respectively. We adopt b = 110 counts/s with a
ground to be 100 counts/s in the shadow (b = 300 counts/s) probable error of 20 counts/s for the B ring portion of the
and 500 counts/s when b = 1500 counts/s, and we set Imin = occultation. The greater transparency of the Cassini Division
500 counts/s. At 50 km resolution the maximum statistical un- and A ring allow Lyman-α emission from interplanetary Hy-
certainty in τn in the B ring is )τ = 0.02 and )τ < 0.01 across drogen to add to the background signal, possibly increasing
most of the A ring. it by as much as another 100–200 counts/s. With this deter-
mination of the background we estimate the star brightness
2.5. σ Sagittarii occultation from measurements in the Cassini Division and A ring gaps
of I0 = 3375 counts/s with a probable error of 200 counts/s.
This occultation spanned the ring system from beyond the We set Imin = 100 counts/s resulting in τmax = 1.87. The sta-
F ring across the A and B rings to the outer C ring at 85,955 km. tistical error in the optical depth is )τ < 0.11 in the B ring and
The star σ Sagittarii (σ Sgr) is south of the ring plane so )τ < 0.03 across most of the A ring at 50 km resolution. We
the unilluminated face of the rings was observed. The path
of the occultation passed behind the most optically thick re- 1 The identification of the star providing the signal in UVIS data as the sec-
gion of the B ring between 105,000 and 110,000 km. The sig- ondary star in the binary α Scorpii system was not made in Colwell et al. (2006),
nal there provides a measurement of the background of b = but the difference in ring plane radii of the tracks of the two stars (∼0.2 km) is
1000 ± 100 counts/s. The FUV channel recorded data for this much less than the resolution of the data presented in that paper.
134 J.E. Colwell et al. / Icarus 190 (2007) 127–144
estimate the systematic error in τn due to the errors in the deter- I0 to 2525 counts/s at the inner extent of the occultation. Based
mination of b and I0 to be <0.02. on the spread of the signal in the opaque core of the B ring
The α Scorpii revolution 29 (α Sco 29) occultation was an and the Titan 1:0 ringlet we estimate the probable error in b to
ingress occultation that spanned the ring system from the F be 20 counts/s. From a similar inspection of the signal in the
ring to the inner C ring. The occultation was observed from gaps across the ring system we estimate the probable error in
the unlit face of the rings, so the background level is low. FUV I0 also to be 20 counts/s. We adopt Imin = 20 counts/s which
data were obtained for this occultation. Serendipitously, another gives τmax = 1.27 at 50 km resolution. With our estimates for
hot star (HD 148605) was in the FUV field of view on spatial the probable error in b and I0 we get a systematic error un-
pixel number 56 approximately 23 mrad from α Sco. α Sco certainty in normal optical depth of ±0.05 everywhere τn < 1,
itself, as expected, was not in the FUV field of view due to im- with )τ < 0.15 at higher optical depths. The statistical errors
perfect alignment of the HSP, FUV, and VIMS fields of view. are comparable (within a factor of two, at this 50 km resolution)
Given the unlit-face viewing geometry of the occultation, the to the systematic errors for this occultation.
FUV signal is dominated by interplanetary Lyman-α transmit-
ted through the rings. In the optically thick core of the B ring the 2.8. λ Scorpii occultation
signal reaches a mean minimum level of only 50–60 counts/s.
Although the background may be higher behind the Cassini Di- The λ Scorpii revolution 29 (λ Sco 29) occultation was an
vision and C rings, the signal in the outer C ring gaps is nearly ingress occultation that spanned the ring system from the F ring
identical to that between the A and F rings. Rather than adopt
to the outer C ring. The occultation was observed from the un-
an uncertain radius-dependent model for both I0 and b whose
lit face of the rings, so the background level is low. FUV data
differences cancel to match the observed overall signal, we
were obtained for this occultation, but the spectra all along the
adopt a constant b = 60 counts/s and I0 = 3600 counts/s, and
slit are dominated by starlight because the star is particularly
we estimate the probable errors as 20 and 50 counts/s respec-
bright and because the rings on the unlit face are quite dark.
tively based on the variation in the total signal between C ring
Consequently the FUV data are not helpful in estimating the
gaps and Cassini Division gaps. At 50 km resolution we have
background contribution to the HSP signal. The background is
τmax = 2.77 with uncertainties in τ of ±0.3 at those large opti-
likely higher in the optically thin regions of the ring where inter-
cal depths, and )τ < 0.1 for τ < 2 and )τ < 0.01 for τ < 1.
planetary Lyman-α can shine through. The optically thick core
of the B ring has a minimum mean count rate of 100 counts/s.
2.7. λ Ceti occultation
Dark sky measurements with the HSP show 100–150 counts/s
due to Lyman-α emission. We adopt b = 100 counts/s for this
The λ Ceti (λ Cet) occultation track traversed the entire main
occultation in the B ring, and b = 150 counts/s elsewhere, with
ring system from the F ring through the C ring. FUV data were
a probable error in b of 50 counts/s.
obtained for this occultation and they show a decrease in the
The high count rate for this star results in a varying base-
FUV signal to a minimum in the central part of the B ring that
line level for the unocculted star brightness, I0 . The magni-
is likely due to increased Lyman-α transmission through the
tude of this variation is larger than the anticipated variation
A and C rings than through the more opaque B ring. The star
in the background signal described above. We therefore adopt
is relatively dim in the UV so instrumental effects are small.
a time-dependent value for I0 that is fit to the measured sig-
The star is north of the ring plane, so at the epoch of this ob-
nal minus the background in the gaps in the rings. The model
servation the lit face of the rings was observed. The observation
value of I0 varies between 2.74 × 105 counts/s in the B ring
is on the night side of Saturn, so there is not much scattered
to 3.02 × 105 counts/s in the Cassini Division, with I0 =
light from Saturn itself. The HSP field of view is within the
shadow of the planet on the rings between the middle C ring 2.87 × 105 counts/s in the A ring. We estimate the probable
and the Encke Gap. In the B ring core, the minimum signals error in I0 to be 1.5 × 103 counts/s. Setting a minimum de-
are I = 46.5 counts/s between 105,000 and 107,000 km. This tectable signal at 50 counts/s we have τmax = 5.79, and both
average value is skewed upward by narrow regions of the core statistical and systematic uncertainties in τ of less than 0.2 in
that are not totally opaque. We adopt b = 45 counts/s between the central B ring and less than 0.01 in the A and C rings and
100,000 and 108,000 km and have a linear increase in b to 105 lower optical depth regions of the B ring.
counts/s at R = 85,000 km and then a steeper linear increase
to 190 counts/s at 74,300 km (the inner extent of the occul- 2.9. α Virginis occultation
tation). Exterior to the B ring core we adopt a linear increase
in the background to 109 counts/s at 140,000 km. With this The rev 30 α Virginis (Spica, α Vir 30) occultation track tra-
background model the ringlet at the Titan 1:0 nodal resonance versed the entire main ring system from the F ring through the C
is totally opaque at 10 km resolution, but the gaps surround- ring. At the time of this occultation the star was on the lit side of
ing it show a higher unocculted star signal than in the outer the rings so it was observed from the unlit side. This reduces the
portion of the ring system. Part of this increase may be the background of scattered sunlight from the rings. Poor weather
HSP instrumental response, and part of it may be due to errors over the Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, Califor-
in the simplified background model presented here. We adopt nia, resulted in 104 data dropouts in this observation. Most of
I0 = 2450 counts/s at R > 85,000 km, and a linear increase in the dropouts are in the data for the outer A ring and F ring re-
Self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s B ring 135
gion, the Cassini Division, and the outer B ring with a loss of most of the disk of the Sun outside the EUV solar port field
approximately 12% of the data. of view. As a result the integrated signal over all EUV wave-
FUV data were obtained for this occultation, but due to the lengths was only 7500–8000 counts per 4-s integration period.
brightness of α Vir there is significant bleeding across the spa- We assume a constant value of I0 = 1741.5 counts/s based on a
tial pixels. Combined with the low background level on the unlit background determination in the B ring core, and then fit a third
face of the rings this prevents the FUV data from being useful order polynomial to the signal I0 + b measured beyond the A
in determining a background model. The minimum mean signal ring, in gaps in the Cassini Division, and interior to the C ring.
in the opaque parts of the B ring core is 140 counts/s. The back- We then construct an optical depth profile using Eq. (2).
ground likely increases behind the more transparent regions of The line of sight to the Sun moved 40–50 km in radius in
the rings where interplanetary Lyman-α can shine through, but the ring plane during the 4-s integration periods. The distance
b = 140 counts/s is in the range of typical dark sky count rates to the rings along the line of sight varied from 2.6 × 105 km in
for the HSP. In the optically thick region between 100,000 and the C ring to 2.1 × 105 km at the F ring. The Sun therefore was
101,000 km the minimum mean count rate is 180 counts/s, a disk 210–260 km in diameter on the sky at the distance of the
but this count rate could include some signal from the star. We rings. There was virtually no projection effect in the radial di-
adopt b = 160 counts/s for the entire occultation with a proba- rection, so the projected size of the Sun in the radial direction
ble error of 40 counts/s to allow for the possibility of enhanced was also 210–260 km. However, most of the disk of the Sun was
Lyman-α transmission through the A and C rings. In the central outside the UVIS field of view due to the pointing error, reduc-
B ring, adopting b > I simply means those regions are effec- ing the effective size of the observed disk of the Sun. The flux in
tively opaque for this occultation. Inspection of the light curve the rev 11 solar occultation (solar11) from the entire solar disk
shows that significant signals are at levels much higher than the was approximately 105 counts/s. Assuming a uniformly bright
minimum signals, so there is virtually no loss of information in solar disk this gives an observed area of the Sun in solar9 of
taking b = 160 counts/s instead of 140 counts/s. approximately 1.7% of the full solar disk, so the integration pe-
The HSP instrumental response to bright stars (the ramp- riod sets the resolution at ∼50 km. We set Imin = 10 counts/s
up behavior) results in a changing baseline value of I0 across for the solar9 occultation resulting in τmax = 1.89. The statisti-
the occultation. We fit linear segments between the clear gaps cal uncertainty )τ = 0.19 at τn = τmax , and )τ < 0.05 in the
in the rings to create a model of I0 as a function of ring optical depth minima in the outer B ring discussed below.
plane radius, R. The resulting model varies between 5.14 × The solar11 occultation extended from the atmosphere to the
105 counts/s in the Encke Gap and 5.44 × 105 counts/s in outer B ring at R = 116,000 km. This observation had the full
the inner C ring. Because there are no gaps in the B ring a solar disk in the EUV solar port field of view. The limiting res-
constant value of I0 across the B ring is assumed with I0 = olution is the projected size of the Sun in the ring plane, or
5.34 × 105 counts/s. We adopt a probable error of 103 counts/s 240–260 km. We determine I0 = 3.95 × 105 counts per 4-s inte-
for I0 , and τmax = 2.82 at 50 km resolution. With our estimates gration period from the measurement of the unocculted Sun in-
for the probable error in b and I0 we get a systematic error terior to the C ring and a background determination of b = 750
uncertainty in normal optical depth of less than ±0.008 every- counts per 4-s integration from the signal in the B ring core at
where τn < 1, with )τ < 0.05 everywhere τn < 2. Statistical R = 105,000–110,000 km. We set Imin = 100 counts/s based
uncertainties (1σ ) in τ are ±0.23 in the optically thick B ring on our estimated uncertainty in b. This results in τmax = 2.5.
core and ∼0.01 elsewhere. Because of the high counting rate, the statistical uncertainty
)τ < 0.004 at R > 111,500 km, and )τ = 0.03 at τn = τmax .
2.10. Solar occultations
3. Radial structure of the B ring
Solar occultations are observed with the EUV channel of the
UVIS using a pick-off mirror 20 degrees away from the main The σ Sgr and λ Sco occultations probed the highest optical
optical boresights to avoid direct solar pointing (Esposito et al., depths of the stellar occultations discussed here because they
2004). The mirror is a section of a cylinder designed to disperse are the brightest stars at higher values of B observed in the first
the image of the Sun along the spatial direction of the detector part of the Cassini tour. The σ Sgr occultation incidence angle is
to prevent too high a flux of photons onto the detector. We in- comparable to that of the Voyager PPS observation of the δ Sco
clude data from the first two ring solar occultations observed by occultation. The angle between the line of sight and the radial
UVIS in revs 9 and 11. There are no strong spectral features in direction, φ, is also similar between these two occultations. The
the main rings in either solar occultation so we have summed calculated normal optical depths are virtually indistinguishable
the signal at all wavelengths in the EUV channel. The angu- between the Cassini σ Sgr occultation and the Voyager δ Sco
lar diameter of the Sun is 1 mrad at Saturn, and this limits the occultation (Esposito et al., 1983) across the entire ring system
spatial resolution of these occultations. to within measurement uncertainties. Maximum optical depths
The rev 9 solar occ (solar9 hereafter) spanned the entire ring are higher for σ Sgr due to the greater signal and therefore
system from beyond the F ring to inside the C ring. The opti- smaller detectable transparencies. At the higher elevation an-
cal depth of the inner D ring is too low to be detected by UVIS gle B = 41.7 degrees of the λ Sco occultation, apparent normal
at the moderate value of B = 21.45 degrees of this occultation. optical depths are higher, while occultations at lower values of
The solar9 occultation suffered from a pointing error that placed B show a reduced normal optical depth (Figs. 7–10).
136 J.E. Colwell et al. / Icarus 190 (2007) 127–144
Fig. 11. Measured normal optical depths (asterisks) at 6 locations in the B ring at 50 km resolution with the best-fit self-gravity wake model (diamonds) using the
analytic expression of Eq. (4). The dominant trend is for an increase in apparent normal optical depth with elevation angle B. Spread in the data at similar values of
B are due to the different values of φ of the observations.
particles within the B ring. More sophisticated models will be which there are at least eight UV occultation measurements
needed when additional observations are available that probe of the optical depth with τn < τmax and for which D < 0.1.
the rings at new geometries and which are able to penetrate the This corresponds to a mean error in the optical depth of 0.1.
optically thick B ring with greater signal. The best opportunities When using the ray-tracing method (Colwell et al., 2006) we
to see through the densest parts of the B ring with stellar occul- also get best-fit values of τwake , although for most of the ring
tation measurements begin in mid-2008 when Cassini will be these values are indistinguishable from infinity (i.e., opaque
on highly inclined orbits around Saturn. wakes). An exception is the relatively low optical depth re-
gions in the inner B ring. Nevertheless, even in the valley at
4.2. Self-gravity wake properties in the B ring R = 95,000 km where τn ∼ 1 (Fig. 21), the mean calculated
τwake = 4.9. Thus, assuming τwake = ∞ is a reasonable approx-
The number of useful measurements of τn varies across imation across the B ring. We checked this by comparing the
the B ring as different occultations have τ > τmax at differ- results for self-gravity wake parameters using the analytic ex-
ent locations and not all occultations have full radial coverage pression of Eq. (4) with the results from the ray-tracing method
(Table 1). We are able to fit the observations with the self- at both 10 and 50 km resolution. We do not see systematic
gravity wake model across the B ring with the exception of differences between the various techniques in the B ring. For
R = 100,000–101,000 km, and R = 104,000–110,000 km due example, the calculated values of τgap are shown in Fig. 15 for
to the high optical depths in those regions. We calculate the the two techniques.
best-fit values of τgap , S/W , H /W , and φwake using least- If the B ring structure were azimuthally symmetric ringlets
squares minimization (Eq. (5)) for all points in the B ring for of large optical depth separated by nearly empty gaps, that
Self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s B ring 139
Fig. 14. Contours of D (Eq. (5)) for the self-gravity wake model fit to the 14
observations of the B ring optical depth at R = 113,225 km (Fig. 11, lower
Fig. 12. Contours of D (Eq. (5)) for the self-gravity wake model fit to the 14 left) as a function of S/W and H /W . The particular solution for S/W and
observations of the B ring optical depth at R = 113,225 km (Fig. 11, lower left) H /W found by the automated minimization of D is shown by the asterisk. The
as a function of S/W and τgap . The particular solution for S/W and τgap found minimum (heavy line) contour has D = 0.012, and the next contour (dashed)
by the automated minimization of D is shown by the asterisk, and the values of has D = 0.026.
D for the two minimum contours are labeled.
Fig. 13. Contours of D (Eq. (5)) for the self-gravity wake model fit to the 14
observations of the B ring optical depth at R = 113,225 km (Fig. 11, lower Fig. 15. Calculated values of τgap using the analytic expression of Eq. (4),
left) as a function of φwake and τgap . The particular solution for φwake and which assumes τwake = ∞, and using the ray-trace method of Colwell et al.
τgap found by the automated minimization of D is shown by the asterisk. The (2006). The ray-trace results have been median filtered by 5 points to make the
minimum (heavy line) contour has D = 0.012, and the next contour (dashed) comparison between the two sets of results more clear.
has D = 0.016. This broad minimum in D makes it difficult to tightly constrain
φwake .
and outer B ring may reflect limitations of the model (infinitely
would explain the observed trend of τn with sin(B) (Fig. 11). long wakes, for example) that are emphasized in the outer B
Aligned structures in the rings introduce variations in τn with ring where the low-B α Leo occultation measured much lower
the observing angle φ. This variation is seen in the scatter of optical depths than those at even slightly larger values of B.
points at equal values of B in Fig. 11. The best fit values of The finite line-of-sight optical depth at B = 9.5 degrees in the
φwake across the B ring and the A ring using the ray-trace α Leo occultation may be the result of light passing over the
method are shown in Fig. 16. Although there is considerable ends of self-gravity wakes.
scatter in the values, the data clearly show that structures in The dominant trend in S/W is a correlation with total opti-
the B ring are not azimuthal and are canted from the azimuthal cal depth (Fig. 17). Large values of optical depth can only be
direction at about the angle expected for trailing self-gravity achieved if the self-gravity wakes are tightly packed. In other
wakes. There is a clear trend for the cant angle (π/2 − φwake ) to words the normal optical depth of the ring is in large part deter-
decrease from the inner to outer B ring, while the trend reverses mined by the fraction of the ring surface area that is blocked by
in the A ring (Colwell et al., 2006). The outer B ring has higher the clumping of particles into self-gravity wakes. Regions with
optical depth, however the correlation between φwake and τm lower optical depth have more open space between the self-
(the maximum value of τn measured at any given location) for gravity wakes while the more opaque regions have the clumps
all locations in the B ring is not statistically significant. Nev- more tightly spaced. If they have large spaces between them,
ertheless, the difference in values of φwake between the inner then in order to have large overall optical depths there would
140 J.E. Colwell et al. / Icarus 190 (2007) 127–144
167 nm. The radius of the Fresnel zone on the plane of the
sky is therefore λFr = 6.8 m using an effective wavelength of
150 nm. Projected onto the rings the Fresnel zone becomes an
ellipse with its long axis in the φ direction and λFr /µ = 41 m
long, and its short axis equal to λFr . At this point in the oc-
cultation φ = 112 degrees meaning that the Fresnel ellipse is
rotated 22 degrees clockwise from the local azimuthal direc-
tion as seen from north of the rings. The diffraction-limited
resolution is therefore sin(φ − π/2) × 41 = 15 m in the ra-
dial direction and 38 m in the longitudinal direction. Interior
to R = 114,200 km the change in radius from one 2 ms inte-
gration period to the next is less than 1.5 m. The track in the
azimuthal direction in one 2 ms integration period, however, is
50 m long for R < 114,200 km. In 2 ms the ring particles travel
Fig. 18. Gap optical depths and H /W ratio for self-gravity wakes across the B 38 m along their orbits around Saturn in the opposite direction
and A rings using the ray-trace method at 10 km resolution and median filtering
by 5 points. The A ring values can be compared to Colwell et al. (2006) where
as the occultation path, increasing the azimuthal smear relative
H /W values show more scatter due to fewer occultations used to derive model to the ring particles to 88 m. The angular diameter of α Leo is
parameters. H /W , like S/W , are inversely correlated with optical depth. 1.3 milli-arcsec (Radick, 1981), and at the line of sight distance
to the occultation in the B ring of ∼3.1 × 105 km the projected
size of the star in the sky plane at the rings is less than 2 m. So
the effective radial resolution near the minimum radius is dif-
fraction limited to 15 m. Thus the radial wavelength of 160 m
is a resolved radial length scale at this location in the ring.
Because the radial velocity of the occultation track is so slow
for the data in Fig. 19, in the time it takes to span one 160 m
radial wavelength, the occultation has sampled several km in
the azimuthal direction. These structures must therefore be
nearly azimuthal themselves and have much longer azimuthal
extent than self-gravity wakes. Similar wavelength structure
has been observed in power spectral analysis of all UVIS stel-
lar occultations with sufficient radial sampling (Sremčević et
al., in preparation) and Cassini Radio Science (RSS) occul-
tations (Thomson et al., 2006). The sub-km structure seen in
the highest resolution images (Porco et al., 2005) might also
Fig. 19. T from data binned to 0.1 s of the α Leo occultation near the minimum
be connected with the 160 m waves observed here. These az-
ring plane radius in the outer B ring sampled by this occultation.
imuthally symmetric undulations co-exist with the self-gravity
wakes. This periodic wave-like azimuthal structure is likely
and egress profiles in the fluctuations in optical depth (Fig. 19). due to viscous overstability in regions of relatively high opti-
For the inner 2.7 km shown in Fig. 19 the correlation coeffi- cal depth (Schmidt et al., 2001; Salo et al., 2001). Because the
cient is −0.02. When the data are binned into equally spaced model described here does not include both self-gravity wakes
bins in ring plane radius, the correlation coefficient between the and axisymmetric waves, such as produced by viscous oversta-
ingress and egress profiles is −0.001. We searched for a phase bility, locations in the rings where the overstability waves are
lag by shifting the data in time resulting in shifting the mini- prominent may have different wake properties than those de-
mum radius point on the light curve. No significant correlation scribed here.
was found for any possible phase lag; larger shifts of the mini-
mum radius point destroy the ingress–egress symmetry of large 5. Discussion
scale circular features in the rings and so were not explored.
The power spectra of both the ingress and egress branches, how- We find that clumping in Saturn’s B ring produces variations
ever, do show a strong peak at a wavelength of 160 m. This is in the apparent normal optical depth of the same magnitude that
the only wavelength above the noise (Fig. 20). When the data is seen in the A ring. Although it has long been recognized that
are binned in equally spaced bins in ring longitude the power the azimuthal brightness asymmetry of the A ring is most easily
spectrum does not show any dominant wavelength. explained by aligned structures, it is a surprise that these aligned
The line of sight distance to the occultation point in the rings structures persist throughout much of the B ring.
at the minimum ring plane radius is 3.12 × 105 km. The spec- Recent theoretical attempts to model the formation of large-
trum of α Leo convolved with the HSP quantum efficiency scale structures in the B ring have treated the rings as a viscous
as a function of wavelength shows that 75% of the photons fluid with transport coefficients such as the viscosity and ther-
detected by the HSP were in the wavelength range of 132– mal diffusivity that can be modeled as monotonically increasing
142 J.E. Colwell et al. / Icarus 190 (2007) 127–144
et al., 2001; Griv et al., 2003). These authors argue that the
scale of the self-gravity wakes is governed by Toomre’s crit-
ical wavelength for axisymmetric Jeans instabilities (Toomre,
1964), which scales linearly with the surface mass density of the
rings. Based on scaling arguments, Daisaka et al. (2001) argue
that the effective kinematic viscosity of the rings in the presence
of self-gravity wakes scales as the square of the Toomre wave-
length and thus increases as the square of the surface mass den-
sity. This scaling has been used in the context of modeling the
spreading rate of the protolunar disk (Ward and Cameron, 1978;
Kokubo et al., 2000; Takeda and Ida., 2001). However, it may
not make sense to apply this scaling to Saturn’s B ring where
the optical depth within the self-gravity wakes is substantially
larger than unity.
Fig. 20. Fast Fourier Transform in ring plane radius space of ingress (blue) The inferred structures in the B ring are highly flattened,
and egress (red) data from the α Leo occultation for the inner 6 km of the tightly packed, trailing spiral self-gravity wakes, consistent
occultation (R < 114,115.3 km). The peaks in the ingress and egress data are with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations for
at a radial wavelength of 160 m.
lower-optical depth rings. The variation of optical depth with
the azimuthal viewing angle, φ, is smaller than in the A ring,
and there is a stronger dependence on the elevation angle, B.
This paints a picture of broad, flat sheets of particles that are
nearly opaque with relatively empty space between them. The
sheets are loosely organized into the trailing spiral density
enhancements that give the azimuthal brightness asymmetry
observed in the A ring. The φ-dependent asymmetry is stronger
than that of the B ring. This may explain why a much weaker
asymmetry has been observed in the B ring in previous obser-
vations made at a limited range of the elevation angle, B (e.g.,
Nicholson et al., 2005).
These clumps persist across the B ring, although measure-
ments in the dense core are limited and preclude a model fit
at all locations in the central B ring. While these structures are
qualitatively the same as the self-gravity wakes in the A ring,
they are apparently wider relative to the ring thickness than their
Fig. 21. Predicted normal optical depths for measurements at B = 90 degrees A ring neighbors. The height to width ratio of ∼0.1 in the B ring
at 10 km resolution compared to the λ Sco occultation, which measured the implies that the B ring self-gravity wakes are monolayers of the
highest overall optical depths in the B ring at most locations.
largest (r ∼ 5 m; Zebker et al., 1985) particles, with the smaller
particles filling in the spaces between the larger particles. The
functions of the local number density of particles (Salo et al., resulting higher collisional viscosity of the B ring self-gravity
2001; Schmidt et al., 2001). These models predict a viscous wakes likely produces structures that persist for many orbital
overstability that produces azimuthally symmetric radial den- periods in contrast to the A ring where self-gravity wakes form
sity variations that slowly grow in wavelength. Salo et al.’s and break apart on the orbital timescale.
(2001) direct N -body simulations have demonstrated the ini- The viscous spreading timescale for the B ring would be
tial development of the viscous overstability at optical depths four times shorter than for the A ring if viscosity continues to
appropriate for the A ring. A viscous fluid model is needed to scale with the square of the surface mass density. We suggest
extend the small scale N -body results to larger scales. The pres- instead that the B ring self-gravity wakes are strongly nonlinear
ence of aligned self-gravity wakes in the B ring places limits structures with a characteristic wavelength that does not neces-
on the applicability of a viscous fluid model for the B ring. In sarily follow the scaling for marginal Jeans instabilities given
particular, a viscous fluid model can only be justified on radial by Toomre’s critical wavelength. The azimuthal extent of in-
scales that are larger than the characteristic wavelength of the dividual self-gravity wakes in the B ring is unknown and is
gravity wakes. The viscous and thermal transport coefficients difficult to estimate from N -body simulations due to the com-
of such a fluid must therefore represent the spatially averaged bination of large simulation cells needed and the high collision
transport caused by the wake structures. rates. If the B ring self-gravity wakes do indeed persist for
N -body simulations of self-gravity wakes in the A ring many orbits and have a lower azimuthal frequency than their
suggest that the effective viscosity is dominated by the grav- A ring counterparts, they will contribute a smaller rate of angu-
itational interactions between the self-gravity wakes and that lar momentum transport by gravitational interactions between
particle collisions play a secondary role (Salo, 1995; Daisaka the wakes than would be implied by an extrapolation of the scal-
Self-gravity wakes in Saturn’s B ring 143
For example, the observer may be looking across the wakes and Esposito, L.W., Colwell, J.E., McClintock, W.E., 1998. Cassini UVIS observa-
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Kokubo, E., Ida, S., Makino, J., 2000. Evolution of a circumterrestrial disk and
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F., 2005. Cassini radio occultation results for Saturn’s rings. Eos (Fall
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