Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers

In this presentation I will talk mainly about Cassini discoveries and results concerning the outer edge of Saturn’s main rings, that is a very peculiar place called the «Roche limit». In this region, accretion processes are balanced by tidal forces producing a variety of time variable structures because of the endless competition of these two processes. Temporary moons, ringlets regularly destroyed by moonless interactions, a complex interplay have been discovered. I will talk about mainly about of strange physics of this region and show that moons and rings are the two sides of a same system. Many discovered processes are similar to still unobserved mechanisms invoked for planetary formation. The discussion will also extend to the formation of short-period planets around white dwarves, that can be explained by exactly the same processes.

 

Local contact: K. Augustson, organization: K. Augustson