The stability of Saturn's rings
- 17 September 1951
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
- Vol. 244 (874) , 1-17
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1951.0013
Abstract
Maxwell determined the conditions of stability of a single ring of small particles moving round a large primary. He also made some incomplete remarks on the effects of introducing a second ring. The present investigation considers in greater detail the stability of two rings of particles moving about a primary and subject to the gravitational attractions of the primary and of each other. It is shown that such a system, under conditions satisfied by the Saturnian system, is stable, the particles oscillating finitely about their mean positions. It is inferred that the Saturnian system, considered as a number of such rings, is therefore also stable.Keywords
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- Book Review: Les Méthodes nouvelles de la Mécanique CélesteBulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 1892