Planetary Ring Dynamics

The first detailed examination of ring dynamics was accomplished by James Clerk Maxwell in his 1857 Smith Prize essay, a study that still repays reading. He dealt with the question of the composition and stability of Saturn s rings, demonstrating that they must consist of a swarm of small particles trapped in planar orbits. The demonstration of differential rotation in the Saturn rings by the observation of Doppler shifts in a reflected solar spectrum was first performed by Keeler about 30 years later. 

In the best studied case, Saturn and Uranus, predictions of the placement and evolution of rings and gaps due to resonances predicted the great number of separate rings observed by satellite flybys. However, observations of Uranus during occultafions of stars by the planet 

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Stellar dynamics and may have analogs in the formation of orbits in planetary ring systems and the asteroid belt. 

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