Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p51f..02k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P51F-02
Other
5737 Magnetospheres (2756), 5780 Tori And Exospheres, 6280 Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
The early portion of the Cassini orbital tour at Saturn has provided a first reconnaissance of the interactions of the icy moons Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, and Hyperion with the magnetosphere. While this reconnaissance consists of, for most of these moons, a single flyby which is not necessarily optimized for the study of the magnetospheric interaction, there are plasma wave phenomena observed near most of these moons which provide some insight into the interactions. Given the volatile nature of the icy crusts of these moons, all were considered possible sources of plasma for the magnetosphere prior to Cassini's arrival at Saturn. Detection of the upper hybrid band during the satellite flybys provides an accurate measurement of the electron plasma density along Cassini's trajectory. Contrary to the situation near the Galilean satellites, Saturn's icy satellites do not appear as sources of `fresh' electrons, strongly suggesting that the plasma originating at these bodies is the result of charge exchange. This is perhaps most clear from the closest approach to Enceladus where only a general increase in the total plasma density was found in the near- equatorial plasma sheet and not a localized spike in density in the near vicinity of the moon. This conclusion is consistent with the observation of enhanced electromagnetic fluxes of ion cyclotron waves near the orbits of Enceladus and Tethys observed with the Cassini magnetometer. In addition to the above waves, another common class of wave mode present near the encounters are in the whistler mode frequency range and could be present due to anisotropic electron distributions related to the presence of the moon. The radio and plasma wave science instrument is also sensitive to impacts of micron-sized dust; these are particularly evident in the close flyby of Enceladus on 14 July 2005.
Barnhart Bradley L.
Dougherty Michele
Gurnett Donald A.
Kurth Willaim S.
Leisner Jared S.
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