Elsevier

Icarus

Volume 25, Issue 3, July 1975, Pages 452-458
Icarus

A numerical study of a gravitating system of colliding particles: Applications to the dynamics of Saturn's rings and to the formation of the solar system

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Abstract

We consider numerically a three-dimensional system of particles moving in the gravitational field of a central mass point and interacting through inelastic collisions. After a very fast flattering, the system reaches a quasiequilibrium state in which there are still collisions and the rings tend to a finite thickness of a few times the mean size of the particles.

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  • Cited by (0)

    Presented at I.A.U. Colloquium No. 28, “Planetary Satellites”, Othaca, N.Y., August 18–21, 1974.

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