Neptune's ring arcs from VLT/SPHERE-IRDIS near-infrared observations

TL;DR

This study presents high-resolution near-infrared observations of Neptune's ring arcs, confirming the stability of some arcs, the fading of others, and challenging existing resonance models for their confinement.

Contribution

First near-infrared imaging of Neptune's ring arcs with VLT/SPHERE, providing new data on arc stability, motion, and resonance mismatch.

Findings

Stable arcs Fraternité and Egalité since 2007

Fading of arcs Courage and Liberté

Resonance models do not explain arc confinement

Abstract

Neptune's incomplete ring arcs have been stable since their discovery in 1984 by stellar occultation. Although these structures should be destroyed within a few months through differential Keplerian motion, imaging data over the past couple of decades has shown that these structures are persistent. We present here the first SPHERE near-infrared observations of Neptune's ring arcs taken at 2.2 $\mu$m (BB-Ks) with the IRDIS camera at the Very Large Telescope in August 2016. The images were aligned using the ephemerides of the satellite Proteus and were suitably co-added to enhance ring and satellite signals. We analyse high-angular resolution near-infrared images of Neptune's ring arcs obtained in 2016 at the ESO VLT-UT3 with the adaptive-optics fed camera SPHERE-IRDIS. We derive here accurate mean motion values for the arcs and the nearby satellite Galatea. The trailing arcs Fraternit\'e and Egalit\'e are stable since they were last observed in 2007. Furthermore, we confirm the fading away of the leading arcs Courage and Libert\'e. Finally, we confirm the mismatch between the arcs' position and 42:43 inclined and eccentric corotation resonances with Galatea; thus demonstrating that no 42:43 corotation model works to explain the azimuthal confinement of the arcs' materiel.