The Origin of Hyperion and Saturn's Rings

Event Date:
2025-09-29T16:00:00
2025-09-29T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Matija Cuk, SETI Institute, CA
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Allison Man (aman@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract: 

The age of the rings and some of the moons of Saturn is an open question, and multiple lines of evidence point to a recent (few hundred Myr ago) cataclysm involving disruption of past moons. The main driver of the evolution of the Saturnian system is relatively rapid tidal expansion of its largest moon, Titan which is likely driven by resonant tides within Saturn. The obliquity of Saturn and the orbit of the small moon Hyperion both serve as a record of the past orbital evolution of Titan. We propose that Saturn's past spin-orbit resonance with Neptune was broken and Hyperion formed in a single dynamical instability about 400 Myr ago. This instability also excited the inclination of Iapetus and eccentricity of Titan. Subsequent interaction between now-eccentric Titan and the inner moons lead a secondary instability, in which the inner moons were re-accreted and the current ring system was formed. 

We present numerical integrations that show that this chain of events has a relatively high probability, and discuss how it fits within our knowledge of the Saturnian system.
 

Bio: 

Matija Ćuk is Research Scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. He specialises in the orbital and rotational dynamics of the Solar System bodies, and has worked on the origin and dynamics of binary asteroids, the Earth-Moon system, and Saturn's moons and rings. He is recipient of the 2014 Harold Urey Prize awarded by the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.

Learn More: 

Add to Calendar 2025-09-29T16:00:00 2025-09-29T17:00:00 The Origin of Hyperion and Saturn's Rings Event Information: Abstract:  The age of the rings and some of the moons of Saturn is an open question, and multiple lines of evidence point to a recent (few hundred Myr ago) cataclysm involving disruption of past moons. The main driver of the evolution of the Saturnian system is relatively rapid tidal expansion of its largest moon, Titan which is likely driven by resonant tides within Saturn. The obliquity of Saturn and the orbit of the small moon Hyperion both serve as a record of the past orbital evolution of Titan. We propose that Saturn's past spin-orbit resonance with Neptune was broken and Hyperion formed in a single dynamical instability about 400 Myr ago. This instability also excited the inclination of Iapetus and eccentricity of Titan. Subsequent interaction between now-eccentric Titan and the inner moons lead a secondary instability, in which the inner moons were re-accreted and the current ring system was formed.  We present numerical integrations that show that this chain of events has a relatively high probability, and discuss how it fits within our knowledge of the Saturnian system.  Bio:  Matija Ćuk is Research Scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. He specialises in the orbital and rotational dynamics of the Solar System bodies, and has worked on the origin and dynamics of binary asteroids, the Earth-Moon system, and Saturn's moons and rings. He is recipient of the 2014 Harold Urey Prize awarded by the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. Learn More:  About the SETI Institute: https://archive.seti.org/about About Saturn: https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/ and https://www.nasa.gov/?search=saturn See a close-up of Titan: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/titan-2/ See a close-up of Hyperion: https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/hyperion/ Read Nature journal article, "The large obliquity of Saturn explained by the fast migration of Titan": https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01284-x  Event Location: HENN 318