EXPERIMENT 6: Saturn’s Rings

Submitted by: __________________________________

Lab Partners: _______________________________________________________

Date of Experiment: ______________

Teaching Assistant: ______________________________

Pre-Questions /5
Data &
/25
Calculations
Discussion /20

Total /50

Lab Instructor’s
Initials

You must have your lab instructor initial this cover page before you leave lab.

The Policy of the Physics Department for working together as a group is as follows:

1. Data taken as a group should be identical with the person(s) you worked with on the experiment. Each person
in the group should participate in the taking of the data to check on the reliability of the group’s data and to
demonstrate each person’s ability to run the experiment.

2. Pre-Questions, Calculations, and Discussion answers must be done individually. Identical parts with another
person’s work will result in both receiving a zero score for that portion.
Experiment 6: Saturn’s Rings

Pre-lab Questions: Type the answers to these questions on a separate sheet of paper and hand
them in at the beginning of the lab period.

1. Describe what Doppler shift means.

2. What are we going to use to measure the mass of Saturn?

When we look at the spectrum of a planet, we are really looking at sunlight reflected from the
planet. Nevertheless, this spectrum tells us something about the motion of a planet in the same way
that radar reflected off a speeding car used to tell a state trooper something about the motion of a
car.

When light is reflected from an object moving away from us at a speed v, the reflected light will
show a wavelength shift called a Doppler shift of  , where

2v
  
c

is toward the red, or to longer wavelengths. Similarly, if the motion is toward the observer, there
will be the same shift but toward the blue or shorter wavelengths.

In taking a spectrogram of a planet, an image of the planet is focused on the spectrometer slit so
that, if the planet is rotating, light reaching the top of the slit, for example, may come from the part
of the planet moving away from the observer while that reaching the bottom of the slit comes from
the part of the planet moving toward the observer. Thus, the top of each spectral line is shifted
toward the red and the bottom is shifted toward the blue.

If the planet moves as a rigid ball, each spectral line will appear as a straight diagonal line, as
shown in the figure below. For a swarm of particles in individual orbits around a parent body,
however, the highest speeds (and Doppler shifts) will appear close to the parent body. Thus, if the
rings of Saturn are such a swarm of particles, and an image of Saturn nearly edge-on is projected
onto a spectrometer slit, each spectral line will appear as shown below.

Particle Rigid
Swarm Disk 1
The second spectral line sketch is what each line would look like if the rings consisted of a rigid
disk  not necessarily rotating at the same speed as the planet.

Outline of Data and Results

1. Dynamics of the Rings

Line up a straight edge very carefully with an absorption line in the upper portion of the rings, and
draw a straight line on the photocopy down to the center of the spectrum. Do the same for the same
absorption line for the bottom half of the rings’ spectrum. If the rings move as a solid disk, these
straight lines should meet to form a single diagonal line. If, however, the rings consist of particles
in orbit the inner parts of the ring will move faster and these two straight lines will diverge slightly
as they approach the center, as shown in the sketch.

2. State Your Conclusions

Draw a precise and narrow straight line between the top and bottom pairs of reference lines for
which the wavelengths are given. Absorption lines will then be measured from these penciled lines.
For five absorption lines near these reference lines measure the following with a hand comparator
(a magnifying lens much like that used to view photographic negatives, but with a millimeter scale
etched on it).

Data and Calculations:

Outside Edge of Ring

Top
Bottom
Difference Avg.

Inside Edge of Ring

Top
Bottom
Difference Avg.

Edge of Saturn’s Disc

Top
Bottom
Difference Avg.

2
Determine the dispersion of the spectrum (how many Angstroms per millimeter) from two
reference lines.

D = _____________ Å/mm.

Calculate the wavelength shift for the Outer Edge of Ring.

 = _______________ Å

Calculate the wavelength shift for the Inner Edge of Ring.

 = _______________ Å

Calculate the wavelength shift for the Edge of Saturn’s Disc.

 = _______________ Å

Calculate the speeds of the Outer Edge of the Ring, the Inner Edge of the Ring, and the Edge of
Saturn’s Disc by means of the formula:

  3  10 km / sec
5

Speed =
 4
Speed of the Outer Edge of the Ring = _______________________

Speed of the Inner Edge of the Ring = _______________________

Speed of the Edge of the Saturn’s Disc = _____________________

Calculate the period of Saturn using 60,444 km as its radius.

 2 60,444 km

T =
 speed

3
Calculate the mass of Saturn from the velocity of the Inner Edge of the Rings. Determine the radius
from a comparison with the radius of Saturn, and use the following formula:

 radius speed 2

Mass =
6.67  10 20

Mass of Saturn = ___________________

Questions for Discussion

1. The accepted equatorial period of Saturn is 10 hours and 14 minutes. How well does your
value agree with this?

2. Compare the mass of Saturn that you found with the accepted value of 5.7 x 1026 kilograms.

3. Are Saturn’s rings solid, or are they a swarm of particles? State your reasoning in your
answer.

4. Describe what the Cassini Division is.