Journal article
Far plasma wake of Titan from the RPWS observations: A case study
Geophysical research letters, Vol.34(24), pp.L24S04-n/a
10/18/2007
DOI: 10.1029/2007GL030482
Abstract
The Titan's plasma wake has been investigated using observations from the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument onboard the Cassini spacecraft during one Titan flyby on December 26, 2005. The Langmuir Probe and the wideband receiver suggest a strong asymmetry of the plasma wake, which is displaced from the ideal wake. Two distinct structures are identified inbound and outbound of the flyby with significantly different electron number densities (ne). The maximum electron number density reached 14 cm−3 on the Saturn side, connected to the sunlit ionosphere, while on the opposite side of Saturn observations indicate a density smaller than 2 cm−3. Other derived parameters of the Langmuir probe analysis suggest also a difference in plasma composition between the two structures, where heavy and light ions dominate the Saturn and anti-Saturn side respectively. The total ion outflow is estimated at 2–7 × 1025 ions/s assuming a cylindrical geometry for the plasma wake.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Far plasma wake of Titan from the RPWS observations: A case study
- Creators
- Ronan Modolo - Swedish Institute of Space PhysicsJ.-E. Wahlund - Swedish Institute of Space PhysicsR. Boström - Swedish Institute of Space PhysicsP. Canu - Centre d'étude des environnements terrestre et planétairesW.S. Kurth - University of IowaD. Gurnett - University of IowaG.R. Lewis - Mullard Space Science LaboratoryA.J. Coates - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Geophysical research letters, Vol.34(24), pp.L24S04-n/a
- DOI
- 10.1029/2007GL030482
- ISSN
- 0094-8276
- eISSN
- 1944-8007
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/18/2007
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984455273502771
Metrics
7 Record Views