Particles Co-orbital to Janus and to Epimetheus: A Firefly Planetary Ring

Abstract

The Cassini spacecraft found a new and unique ring that shares the trajectory of Janus and Epimetheus, co-orbital satellites of Saturn. Performing image analysis, we found this to be a continuous ring. Its width is between 30% and 50% larger than previously announced. We also verified that the ring behaves like a firefly. It can only be seen from time to time, when Cassini , the ring, and the Sun are arranged in a particular geometric configuration, in very high phase angles. Otherwise, it remains “in the dark,” invisible to Cassini ’s cameras. Through numerical simulations, we found a very short lifetime for the ring particles, less than a couple of decades. Consequently, the ring needs to be constantly replenished. Using a model of particle production due to micrometeorites impacts on the surfaces of Janus and Epimetheus, we reproduce the ring, explaining its existence and the “firefly” behavior.