Abstract
THE RINGS OF SATURN.-In a note published as Bulletin No. 32 of the Lowell Observatory, Prof. Lowell develops rather more fully the idea that the appendages B and C of Saturn are not flat rings, but tores. He arrives at this conclusion, by two independent methods, from a discussion of the phenomena observed at Arizona during November and December last. In the first place, a black core was observed running medially through the length of the shadowy band which then encircled the planet. This core was seen by all the observers at Flagstaff, although not caught by Prof. Barnard at Yerkes nor reported in the Lick observations, and is presumed to be the black shadow of the plane ring A bordered by the particles of the rings B and C scattered above and below the plane of A. That is to say, the rings B and C differ from A in being tores and not flat rings. Then the agglomerations, seen at many different observatories, are shown to be better accounted for by Prof. Lowell's theory of the form of the rings than by the several other theories which have been proposed. An analytical discussion of the perturbing effects to which the ring matter is subjected by the satellites, &c., shows that the assumed heaping up of the particles, as indicated by the agglomerations, is in accordance with gravitational laws. Furthermore, it is shown from the observational results that the inevitable disintegration of the rings is in the process of taking place.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Our Astronomical Column. Nature 78, 182–183 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/078182a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/078182a0