Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p21c..04c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P21C-04
Physics
[2732] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings
Scientific paper
The powerful magnetic fields of the giant planets are excellent plasma containers. Their magnetospheres dominate large volumes of space that include most of these planets’ major moons. They are also dynamic environments that produce energetic ions and electrons. In this talk I will describe current knowledge on the effects of these ions and electrons on these moons’ surfaces. Plasma bombardment leaves its signature on many of the moons, especially those deep in the most intense part of their parent planets’ magnetospheres. The effects include chemical alteration (radiolysis), which often results in distinctive asymmetries between moons’ leading and trailing hemispheres. The plasma also erodes moons’ surfaces in a process called sputtering, producing tenuous atmospheres. Amazingly, magnetospheres also act to redistribute material between moons: material lost from one moon is eventually ionized and transported through the magnetosphere, where it can impact other moons.
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