Spokes in the rings
- General information on Saturn’s ring system
- BBC News article on the spokes – gravitational effect of a moon
The Cassini probe has allowed astronomers to infer something about the dynamics and structure of the particles that make up Saturn’s rings, and solve a puzzle about the ‘spokes’ seen moving around the rings on a previous flyby.
The ring structure has fractal properties, the rings look the same at different scales, and a simple mathematical model called the Henon attractor can be used to generate ring like structures.
The Java applet is one of several available as part of a Chaos course written by Michael Cross at CalTech.