Journal article
Cassini RPWS observations of dust in Saturn's E Ring
Planetary and space science, Vol.54(9), pp.988-998
08/01/2006
DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2006.05.011
Abstract
The Cassini radio and plasma wave science (RPWS) instrument is sensitive to few-micron dust grains impacting on the spacecraft at relative speeds of order 10
km/s. Through the first year or so of operations in orbit at Saturn, the RPWS has made a number of both inclined and equatorial crossings of the E ring, particularly near the orbit of Enceladus. Assuming water ice grains, the typical size particle detected by the RPWS has a radius of a few microns. Peak impact rates of about 50
s
−1 are found near the orbit of Enceladus corresponding to densities of order 5×10
−4
m
−3. The variation of dust fluxes as a function of height above or below the equator is well described by a Gaussian distribution with a scale height of about 2800
km although there is usually some non-Gaussian variation near the peak fluxes suggesting some structure in the core of the ring. Offsets of the peak number densities are typically of the order of a few hundred km from the geometric equator. A near-equatorial radial profile through the orbit of Enceladus shows a sharply peaked distribution at the orbit of the moon. A size distribution averaged over several passes through the orbit of Enceladus is determined which varies as
m
−2.80. The peak in dust number density at the orbit of Enceladus is consistent with previous optical measurements and strongly supports the suggestion that Enceladus is a primary source for E ring particles.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Cassini RPWS observations of dust in Saturn's E Ring
- Creators
- W.S. Kurth - University of IowaT.F. Averkamp - University of IowaD.A. Gurnett - University of IowaZ. Wang - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Planetary and space science, Vol.54(9), pp.988-998
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.pss.2006.05.011
- ISSN
- 0032-0633
- eISSN
- 1873-5088
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/01/2006
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984455543902771
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