High-velocity streams of dust originating from Saturn

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

30

Scientific paper

High-velocity submicrometre-sized dust particles expelled from the jovian system have been identified by dust detectors on board several spacecraft. On the basis of periodicities in the dust impact rate, Jupiter's moon Io was found to be the dominant source of the streams. The grains become positively charged within the plasma environment of Jupiter's magnetosphere, and gain energy from its co-rotational electric field. Outside the magnetosphere, the dynamics of the grains are governed by the interaction with the interplanetary magnetic field that eventually forms the streams. A similar process was suggested for Saturn. Here we report the discovery by the Cassini spacecraft of bursts of high-velocity dust particles (>= 100kms-1) within ~70 million kilometres of Saturn. Most of the particles detected at large distances appear to originate from the outskirts of Saturn's outermost main ring. All bursts of dust impacts detected within 150 Saturn radii are characterized by impact directions markedly different from those measured between the bursts, and they clearly coincide with the spacecraft's traversals through streams of compressed solar wind.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

High-velocity streams of dust originating from Saturn does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with High-velocity streams of dust originating from Saturn, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and High-velocity streams of dust originating from Saturn will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-813522

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.