Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008hst..prop11645c&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #11645. Cycle 17
Other
Scientific paper
Recent observations from several instruments on the Cassini spacecraft have revealed plumes of dust and water from the southern polar region, and clearly shown that Enceladus contributes large amounts of plasma to SaturnÕs magnetosphere. This implies a global thin atmosphere containing water and likely other species, and a local region with orders of magnitude higher density near the plumes. While water and dust have been identified from the plumes, the presence of many other species in the atmosphere is possible and not yet ruled out. The identification of all significant species in the atmosphere of Enceladus is of key importance to speculation about the source of the water plumes, and the implications for any form of life at or below the surface. In addition, modeling suggests that EnceladusÕ mass loading region may be comparable in extent to IoÕs, and interacts strongly with SaturnÕs corotating magnetic field and plasma. We have recently concluded a search for an auroral footprint of Enceladus in HST images, which set a low upper limit implying that the magnetospheric interaction is concentrated near Enceladus, rather than being communicated along field lines to SaturnÕs ionosphere. The next step will be to observe the interaction at the satellite, and to learn whatever we can about the physics of the release of the atmospheric gas. We propose here an exploratory set of spectral observations with HST COS to measure the solar reflection spectrum over a broad range of UV wavelengths for atmospheric absorption signatures. This will at the same time measure the emission spectrum of the atmosphere from both the leading and trailing hemispheres ? Enceladus orbit apart, as was done in HST STIS observations of Io to study its interaction at Jupiter. The higher sensitivity of COS will be needed to study the much smaller and relatively weakly-interacting Enceladus, and the outcome of these observations will determine the nature of future studies of the atmosphere of Enceladus and its plasma interaction with the Saturnian magnetosphere.;
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