Saturn's rings: Infrared brightness variation with solar elevation

Abstract

The variation in infrared equilibrium brightness temperature of Saturn's A, B, and C rings is modeled as a function of solar elevation B′ with respect to the ring plane. The basic model includes estimates of minimum and maximum interparticle shadowing in a monolayer approximation. Simple laboratory observations of random particle distributions at various illumination angles provide more realistic shadowing functions. Radiation balance calculations yield the physical (kinetic) temperature of particles in equilibrium with radiation from the Sun, Saturn, and neighboring particles. Infrared brightness temperatures as a function of B′ are then computed and compared to the available 20-μm data (Pioneer results are also briefly discussed). The A and B rings are well modeled by an optically thick monolayer, or equivalently, a flat sheet, radiating from one side only. This points to a temperature contrast between the two sides, possibly due to particles with low thermal inertia. Other existing models for the B ring are discussed. The good fit for the monolayer model does not rule out the possibility that the A and B rings are many particles thick. It could well be that a multilayer ring produces an infrared behavior (as a function of tilt angle) similar to that of a monolayer. The C ring brightness increases as B′ decreases. This contrast in behavior can be understood simply in terms of the low C ring optical depth and small amount of interparticle shadowing. High-albedo particles ( A≳0.5) can fit the C ring infrared data if they radiate mostly from one hemisphere due to slow rotation or low thermal inertia (or both). Alternatively, particles isothermal over their surface (owing to a rapid spin, high inertia, or small size), and significantly darker ( A≲0.3) than the A and B ring particles, can produce a similar brightness variation with ring inclination. In any case, the C ring particles have significantly hotter physical temperatures than the particles in the A and B rings, whether or not the rings form a monolayer.