Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....40.4315d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #43.15; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.562
Other
Scientific paper
Cassini ISS nightside observations of Saturn revealed two phenomena.
First, the aurora was detected in visible wavelengths near 75° N latitude. While the detections have low signal-to-noise, the spatial resolution is better than that of the other Cassini instruments (VIMS, UVIS and CIRS).
ISS finds that Saturn's aurora is bright in a few spectral channels (in the broadband infrared channel covering 825-925 nm ( 100 Ra/nm), in the Hα channel covering 651-661 nm ( 200 Ra/nm), possibly in a UV channel covering 300-370 nm ( 250 Ra/nm)), and dark in the other visible channels. The average broadband visible brightness of the aurora for this multi-channel observation is 25 Ra/nm. This agrees with the line emission predicted for the Saturnian aurora (Aguilar, 2008). The aurora displays rapid variability on the timescales of half an hour.
Second, the night side limb of Saturn's north pole appears silhouetted against a brighter background when observed at a phase angle (sun-target-spacecraft) of 161°. The spacecraft was close to the equatorial plane when the observations were taken, and the bright background originates behind the planet, so the scatterers are more than one Saturn radius (1.0 Rs) above the ring plane. The half-maximum contour of the E ring is only 0.04 Rs above the ring plane at the orbit of Enceladus, but the wings of the distribution are broad, especially beyond the orbit of Enceladus. Most likely, these observations provide information about the extremely inclined tail of the population of dust particles in the Saturn system. We will discuss the color of the scatterers and its implications on the particle size.
Aguilar, A., J. M. Ajello, R. S. Mangina, G. K. James, H. Abgrall, and E. Roueff, "The electron-excited middle UV to near IR spectrum of H2 : Cross-sections and transition probabilities", Astrophys. J. Supp. Ser., 177 (2008).
Burns Joseph A.
Dyudina Ulyana A.
Ewald Shawn P.
Hedman Matthew M.
Ingersoll P. A. P. A.
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