Other
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.5007e&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #50.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1008
Other
1
Scientific paper
The discovery of a stable oxygen atmosphere over Saturn's main rings was one of the first major surprises of the Cassini mission. The primary source of neutral oxygen for this ring atmosphere was suggested to be due to solar UV photons that produce O2 by decomposition of H2O ice particles in the main rings. This process, as well as charged particles radiation, can also produce O2 from ice grains in the tenuous F and G rings. The oxygen ring atmosphere is very thin to the point of being nearly collisionless primarily interacting with the ring particles. That is O2 is adsorbed and desorbed from the rings causing changes in the trajectories so that the O2 produced from the optically thick B and A rings diffuses onto the C and D rings and out to the inner magnetosphere. In addition, the scattering of O2 by its ionized products O2+ and O+, allows for a redistribution of O2 from the rings throughout the magnetosphere. Predominately through photo-ionization O2 neutrals from the ice grains become a source for O2+ ions over the rings and in the inner magnetosphere. Once formed the O2+ ions follow the field lines. The ions also interact with the icy ring particles effectively limiting the ion density. As a result the ion density is greater over the Cassini Division and the area between the F and G ring where the optical depth due to the ice grain is less. The purpose of this study is to re-examine the ion data from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) from the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) in 2004 as well as compare it with other data from 2007 where Cassini passed within 3.5 Rs near the equator.
Elrod Meredith
Johnson Robert E.
Tokar Robert L.
Tseng Wei-Ling
Wilson Richard J.
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