Authors: Iess Luciano, Rappaport Nicole J., Jacobson Robert A., Racioppa Paolo, Stevenson David J., Tortora Paolo, Armstrong John W., and Asmar Sami W.
Year: 2010
Title: Gravity Field, Shape, and Moment of Inertia of Titan
Journal: Science
Volume: 327
Number: 5971
Pages: 1367
Keywords: Saturn, major, planetology, parameter
Abstract: Precise radio tracking of the spacecraft Cassini has provided a determination of Titan's mass and gravity harmonics to degree 3. The quadrupole field is consistent with a hydrostatically relaxed body shaped by tidal and rotational effects. The inferred moment of inertia factor is about 0.34, implying incomplete differentiation, either in the sense of imperfect separation of rock from ice or a core in which a large amount of water remains chemically bound in silicates. The equilibrium figure is a triaxial ellipsoid whose semi-axes a, b, and c differ by 410 meters (a - c) and 103 meters (b - c). The nonhydrostatic geoid height variations (up to 19 meters) are small compared to the observed topographic anomalies of hundreds of meters, suggesting a high degree of compensation appropriate to a body that has warm ice at depth.
%F: AA(Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale ed Astronautica, Universita La Sapienza, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy.), AB(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.), AC(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.), AD(Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale ed Astronautica, Universita La Sapienza, via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy.), AE(California Institute of Technology, 150-21 Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.), AF(DIEM-II Facolta' di Ingegneria, Universita' di Bologna, I-47100 Forli, Italy.), AG(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.), AH(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.)
Bibliogaphic Code: 2010Sci...327.1367I
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