On the Long-Term Abundance of Energetic Sodium Ions in Saturn's <20 Rs Magnetosphere

Details On the Long-Term Abundance of Energetic Sodium Ions in Saturn's <20 Rs Magnetosphere On the Long-Term Abundance of Energetic Sodium Ions in Saturn's <20 Rs Magnetosphere

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p23b1383c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P23B-1383

Other

2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033), 6275 Saturn, 7845 Particle Acceleration, 7846 Plasma Energization

Scientific paper

Saturn's icy magnetospheric environment presents a rather easily accessible astrophysical laboratory, possibly reflecting some conditions similar to those present in the early solar nebula. The recent discovery of a Sodium-rich water ice population in Saturn's E ring, with Sodium (Na) concentrations of ~10-5 [Postberg and Kempf, Abstracts for "Saturn After Cassini-Huygens" Symposium, Imperial College, London, 28.July-1.August, 2008, http://www.saturnaftercassini.org/] has prompted a search for Na in Saturn's magnetospheric energetic charged particle population. This Na dust measurement leads Postberg and Kemp to the possibility of a salty sea/ocean on Enceladus. We use measurements from MIMI/CHEMS, the Charge- Energy-Mass Spectrometer, to analyze the ion composition in the range 73-220 keV/e taking full note of the of the concurrent, background magnetospheric charged particle population. CHEMS, one of three sensors comprising the MIMI investigation on Cassini, determines the mass and charge state of ions. Measurements made throughout the solar system by instruments similar to CHEMS have shown that both dust and gas can be sources of energetic charged particles through photoionization and/or charged particle impact. We examine energetic, singly-charged heavy ions in the near-Saturn magnetosphere in order to determine and/or set an upper limit to the relative abundance of Na+1 to other heavy ion species for Cassini's near-planet equatorial orbits early in the mission (mid-2004 to mid-2006) and from selected intervals to the present. If the Na is released as NaCl, for example, we should have two ionized species to search for. However, in our measurements, Na+1 is obscured partially by the more abundant water-group (O+1 , OH+1 , and H2O+1) ions and Cl+1 fully by diatomic oxygen (O2+1) ions. The Na+1 is easier to separate. In the equatorial-orbits data set, the level of Na+1 is at or below background levels.

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