DIFFUSION RATE OF PARTICLES EJECTED FROM ENCELADUS INTO THE E-RING

Saturn's Icy moon Enceladus has been the focus of research and study since the early 1950's. With the arrival of the Cassini satellite into the Saturnian system, a higher caliber of data for research has been available. One confirmation is that Saturn's E-ring is comprised mostly of icy particles from cryovolcanic activity on Enceladus. After the injection of particles into the E-ring from Enceladus, a number of studies have been done to determine what occurs to the particles after their incorporation into the E-ring. Previous work has calculated that close to 5% of the particles enter the E-ring and redeposit onto the moon after one orbit. Approximately 5 kg s^-1 of material is injected into E-ring and 95% of that material remains in the E-ring, helping to perpetuate the E-ring. Using a diffusion equation and in-situ data from the Cassini-Solstice satellite, this study works to determine the diffusion coefficient. To accomplish this, a generic diffusion curve was used, and the diffusion coefficient was then adjusted to find the best-fit model that matched in-situ data that was recorded during E-ring fly through by the Cassini satellite.