Origin of Hyperion and Saturn's Rings in A Two-Stage Saturnian System Instability

TL;DR

This paper proposes a two-stage instability event involving Titan's orbital expansion, leading to the formation of Hyperion, the destabilization of inner moons, and the creation of Saturn's rings, supported by numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scenario linking Titan's orbital evolution to the formation of Hyperion and Saturn's rings through a two-stage instability process.

Findings

Numerical simulations support the probability of the proposed chain of events.

The model explains Hyperion's origin and the rings' formation in a unified framework.

Resonant interactions played a key role in the system's evolution.

Abstract

The age of the rings and some of the moons of Saturn is an open question, and multiple lines of evidence point to a recent (few hundred Myr ago) cataclysm involving disruption of past moons. The main driver of the evolution of the Saturnian system is the relatively rapid tidal expansion of its largest moon, Titan, which is likely driven by resonant tides within Saturn. The obliquity of Saturn and the orbit of the small moon Hyperion both serve as a record of the past orbital evolution of Titan. Saturn's obliquity was likely generated by a secular spin-orbit resonance with the planets, while Hyperion is caught in a mean-motion resonance with Titan, with both phenomena driven by Titan's orbital expansion. We propose that the breaking of Saturn's spin resonance was also the event in which Hyperion formed, when an outer mid-sized satellite (``Proto-Hyperion'') was destabilized and collided with Titan, with some of the debris accreting into Hyperion. During the instability Proto-Hyperion's perturbations produced the observed orbital inclination of Iapetus. The same event also excited the eccentricity of Titan, which then, through Titan's resonant interaction with the inner moons, led to destabilization, collisional disruption and re-accretion of the inner moon system, including the rings. We present numerical integrations that show that this chain of events has a relatively high probability, and discuss how it fits within our knowledge of the Saturnian system.