Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.2502o&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #25.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.995
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Cassini observations have revealed the presence of active plumes of water from the south pole of Enceladus and atomic oxygen emissions concentrated in the orbit of Enceladus. If ground-based observation of oxygen emission at 630nm in the Enceladus torus becomes possible, though it is difficult because of absorption by telluric atmosphere, it will be useful to monitor the long-term variability of Saturn's inner magnetosphere.
We report the first detection of OI 630nm emission in the Enceladus torus from the ground. Observation was made at Mt. Haleakala from December 10, 2009 through January 21, 2010 using an Echell spectrograph with resolution of 37,000, coupled to a 40cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. In observation, spectrograph slit (500” by 5.1” corresponding to 28.6RS by 0.29RS) was placed at a distance of 4Rs in the eastern side of Saturn perpendicularly to the Saturn's equatorial plane. The plate scale was 1.82"/pixel. Exposure time for each spectral image was 40 minutes and 30 spectral images were co-added to increase signal-to-noise ratio.
Observed Peak intensity of the OI630nm emission was 4±2 Rayleighs and the half-width in the north-south direction was 1.7RS.
The detection of OI630nm emission in the Enceladus torus was made possible with the use of our own facility at Mt. Haleakala by remote operation from Japan through internet. This means continuous observations will allow us to provide meaningful results even the telescope is not a large one. A new telescope dedicated to planetary observation is desired. To meet this demand, a project to construct a new telescope at Haleakala is in progress. The new telescope will be an off-axis Gregorian type with a diameter of 1.8m. Details of the project and the telescope will be given at the presentation.
Kagitani Masato
Kasaba Yasumasa
Kodama Katsuaki
Okano Shoichi
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