Series: Astronomy Colloquium
Date: Wednesday 08-Dec-2021
Time: 16:05-17:00 (4:05-5:00 pm)
Location: Via Zoom
Speaker: Dr. Chris Mankovich (CalTech)
Title: Unlocking planetary seismology using Saturn's rings
Gas giants -- even the ones in our own back yard -- still have poorly understood internal structures, hampering our understanding of the accretion process and subsequent mixing in the planet. Planetary seismology holds tremendous promise for revealing these planets' interior composition, buoyancy, and rotation via their normal mode oscillation power spectra, akin to the fields of global helioseismology or asteroseismology. At Saturn's rings, stellar occultations viewed by the Cassini spacecraft have revealed 30+ ring waves excited at resonances with Saturn's nonradial normal modes, confirming a hypothesis dating to the 1980s and yielding the most comprehensive dataset ever for seismological study of a planet other than Earth. I will present on the lessons we have managed to learn so far about Saturn's internal structure and rotation using this one-of-a-kind technique.
Colloquia for the Fall 2020 semester will be held on zoom. Contact Dr. Leslie Sage for details.
Colloquium Organizer:
Dr. Leslie Sage
Special accommodations for individuals with disabilities can be made by calling (301) 405-3001. It would be appreciated if we are notified at least one week in advance.
