DPS 2001 meeting, November 2001
Session 9. Cassini and Galileo at Jupiter Posters
Displayed, 9:00am Tuesday - 3:00pm Saturday, Highlighted, Tuesday, November 27, 2001, 5:00-7:00pm, French Market Exhibit Hall

[Previous] | [Session 9] | [Next]


[9.09] The orbits of Metis and Adrastea from Cassini Jupiter encounter imaging.

M.W. Evans, C.C. Porco (Southwest Research Institute)

Several hundred images of the jovian rings were shuttered by the {\em Cassini} narrow angle camera (NAC) in December 2000 and January 2001 during that spacecraft's flyby of the planet Jupiter. The small satellites Metis and Adrastea are visible in a number of these jovian ring images. These satellites are thought to be the source of the material in the main ring.

As the vertical structure of the jovian rings is believed to be determined by the inclinations of the rings' source bodies, refinement of the orbits of these satellites is of particular interest to ring studies.

The results of determinations of the orbital elements of Metis and Adrastea using {\em Cassini} data will be presented. The implications of the derived inclinations of the orbits of these bodies on the thickness of the main ring will be discussed.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: mwe@ciclops.swri.edu

[Previous] | [Session 9] | [Next]