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SATURN'S F RING IS STILL A MYSTERY SINCE ITS DISCOVERY BY PIONEER 11. THIS RING IS UNIQUE BY ITS CHANGING APPEARANCE ITS SPIRAL SHAPE ITS SHEPHERD SATELLITES PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA AND ITS EPHEMERAL SATELLITES. HOWEVER ITS ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION ARE STILL MISUNDERSTOOD . A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF HINTS HAVE BEEN UNVEILED BY DATA OF VOYAGER AND CASSINI DURING PRIME AND EQUINOX MISSIONS BUT NO DEFINITE ANSWER ON THE F RING HAVE BEEN PROVIDED SO FAR. MANY F RING STUDIES HAD THE SCIENCE GOAL OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE INFINITE CHANGING APPEARANCE OF THE F RING IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY ACCURATELY THE DYNAMICAL MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN ITS EVOLUTION. HOWEVER TO CHARACTERIZE THIS CHANGING APPEARANCE HIGH RADIAL AND AZIMUTHAL RESOLUTION DATA ARE NECESSARY. THE ONLY HIGH RESOLUTION DATA THAT WE HAVE CURRENTLY IS THE CASSINI DATA. AMONG THE DIVERSITY OF THE CASSINI DATA THE IMAGES ARE CRUCIAL BECAUSE THEY COVER A LARGE PORTION OF THE RING IN AZIMUTH WHEREAS STELLAR OCCULTATIONS ARE LIMITED IN LONGITUDE. SO FAR CASSINI IMAGES OF THE F RING HAVE NOT BEEN TREATED BY NON-CASSINI TEAMS AND HAVE RARELY BEEN TREATED BY NON-IMAGING TEAMS. WE BELIEVE THAT CREATING A DATABASE ACCESSIBLE TO THEORISTS DYNAMISTS OR SCIENTISTS NON FAMILIAR WITH THE ISS DATA PROCESSING WILL BE BENEFICIAL TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE WHOLE F RING EVOLUTION PROBLEM.

$37,208FY2017National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of California, Los Angeles

Investigators

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