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THE ORIGIN OF THE CURRENT ORBITAL RESONANCE BETWEEN ENCELADUS AND DIONE IS NOT ADEQUATELY EXPLAINED BY THEORY. THIS RESONANCE IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT CAUSES GEOLOGICAL ACTIVITY ON ENCELADUS. MODELS BASED ON THE STANDARD THEORETICAL ASSUMPTION OF CONVERGENT TIDAL EVOLUTION PREDICT A DIFFERENT SUB-RESONANCE WHICH WOULD EXCITE DIONE'S ECCENTRICITY RATHER THAN THAT OF ENCELADUS. IN TASK 1 WE WILL TEST A PROMISING SCENARIO WHICH FEATURES MIMAS AND ENCELADUS IN A MUTUAL RESONANCE WHEN THEY ENCOUNTERED THE RESONANCE WITH DIONE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT A "RESONANCE HANDOFF" OCCURRED WITH MIMAS MIGRATING AWAY AND ENCELADUS AND DIONE REMAINING IN RESONANCE. THE CO-ORBITAL MOONS JANUS AND EPIMETHEUS ARE WIDELY THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN FORMED AT THE EDGE OF SATURN'S RINGS RECENTLY IN THE LAST FEW TENS OF MYR. HOWEVER BETWEEN THE RINGS AND CO-ORBITALS' PRESENT ORBIT THERE IS A STRONG 2:1 MEAN-MOTION RESONANCE WITH ENCELADUS. OUR PRELIMINARY SIMULATIONS SHOW THAT THE RESONANCE WOULD HAVE DESTABILIZED THE CO-ORBITALS. IN TASK 2 WE WILL EXPLORE THE CONSTRAINTS FROM THIS RESONANCE AND DETERMINE HOW LONG JANUS AND EPIMETHEUS COULD HAVE EXISTED IN THEIR CURRENT CONFIGURATION. THE MIMAS-TETHYS 4:2 RESONANCE MUST HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AFTER THE RESONANT ENCOUNTERS PROPOSED IN TASK 1 BUT LIKELY BEFORE THE REACCRETION OF JANUS AND EPIMETHEUS (TASK 2). THIS RESONANCE CURRENTLY HAS A LARGE LIBRATION AMPLITUDE WHICH IS UNLIKELY IN THE CURRENT SCENARIOS OF RESONANCE CAPTURE. IN TASK 3 WE WILL EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE INITIAL MIMAS-TETHYS RESONANCE WAS ESTABLISHED WITH A LOW LIBRATION AMPLITUDE BUT WAS SUBSEQUENTLY PERTURBED BY CHAOS AND COLLISIONS DURING A VERY RECENT DISRUPTION AND RE-ACCRETION OF JANUS AND EPIMETHEUS. IN OUR PRELIMINARY WORK ON THE MOONS OF URANUS WE FIND THAT THE RECENT ARIEL-UMBRIEL 5:3 RESONANCE INDIRECTLY AFFECTS MIRANDA APPARENTLY THROUGH SECULAR INTERACTIONS. IN TASK 4 WE WILL VARY MIRANDA'S AND ARIEL'S TIDAL PROPERTIES AS THE RESONANCE EVOLVES AND DETERMINE WHETHER THIS PAST RESONANCE IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE OBSERVED SYSTEM INCLUDING THE HIGH INCLINATION OF MIRANDA AND LOW INCLINATIONS OF ARIEL AND UMBRIEL. SEVERAL VERY CLOSE PAIRS OF URANIAN INNER MOONS APPEAR TO BE UNSTABLE ON SUB-MYR TIMESCALES. WHILE THE STANDARD APPROACH TO MODELING THIS SYSTEM HAS BEEN TO FIT ORBITS TO OBSERVATIONS AND THEN INTEGRATE THEIR EVOLUTION IN TASK 5 WE PROPOSE TO USE THE REVERSE IDENTIFYING THE RELATIVELY STABLE ORBITS FIRST (IF THEY EXIST AT ALL) AND THEN COMPARING THEM TO OBSERVATIONS. EVEN IF WE CAN AVOID SUB-MYR INSTABILITIES THE CLOSELY-PACKED INNER MOONS OF URANUS WOULD STILL HAVE STRONGLY-CHAOTIC ORBITS AND ARE PREDICTED TO COLLIDE WITH EACH OTHER WITHIN 100 MYR. HOWEVER CURRENT MODELS UNDERESTIMATE TIDAL DISSIPATION WITHIN THESE MOONS. IN TASK 6 OUR NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS WILL INCLUDE FORCED LIBRATIONS DUE TO THESE MOONS' ELONGATED SHAPES AS WELL AS THE MOONS' RUBBLE-PILE STRUCTURE BOTH OF WHICH ACT TO INCREASE TIDAL DISSIPATION. WE WILL INVESTIGATE WHETHER TIDAL ECCENTRICITY DAMPING ON FEW-MYR TIMESCALES CAN HELP STABILIZE THE ORBITS OF URANUS'S INNER MOONS.

$374,852FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Seti Institute, Mountain View CA

Investigators

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