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3body.mpg
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This calculation solves Hill's equations to obtain the trajectories of particles,
initially in circular orbits, as they approach and get scattered by a graviting body
that is also in a circular orbit. So for example, if you were to place a small
satellite in Saturn's main A or B rings, this movie shows you how the small ring
particles would get scattered by that satellite, ignoring collisions.
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KBwaves.mpg
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This model simulates the secular gravitational interactions that
a young Neptune would have exerted
on the primordial Kuiper Belt, which was the vast swarm of comets that was once
orbiting just beyond Neptune (and whose remnant is in the vicinity of Pluto and beyond).
This movie shows how Neptune's secular perturbations
would have launched an outward-propagating one-armed spiral density waves in that
early Kuiper Belt, had the Belt been sufficiently dense with comets
and dynamically undisturbed. See
my 2003 ApJ paper for more details.
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smu_colloq.mov
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This 50 Mb Quicktime animation is similar to the one above, but it contrasts the degree of secular
stirring that the giant planets exert on a massless Kuiper Belt, versus stirring
in a 10 Earth-mass Belt that is dynamically cool enough to sustain these
density waves.
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Ewaves.mpg
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This model is conceptually similar to the one above, but this time it
simulates the secular interactions that are exerted between a small
satellute and a nearby planetary ring; here the satellite
launches a one-armed spiral density wave at the ring's nearby
edge. See this reprint for more details.
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Iwaves.mpg
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Secular gravitational perturbations from an inclined satellite can also launch
a spiral bending wave in a nearby dense planetary ring; see
reprint for more details.
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jup1_spi.gif
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This silly animation is of a simpler model that was the precuror code for the above models.
Here a planetary system is represents via a set of gravitating rings in orbit about a central
star. One ring is given a non-zero inclination and is also forced to precess, and
that ring's secular perturbations
of its neighbors then launches an outward-propagating spiral bending wave.
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librate_sd100_de0.4.gif
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This cute animation shows results from an N-body integration of a narrow eccentric planetary ring
as it librates about equilibrium due to its self gravity. The code used here is detailed in my
2013 paper.
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