Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p23c..06b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P23C-06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
[0343] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Planetary Atmospheres, [2419] Ionosphere / Ion Chemistry And Composition, [6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
The icy plumes from Saturn’s moon Enceladus are unusual phenomena that have raised several challenging questions about the relationship of this small satellite to its surrounding environment. In addition, they offer a unique window to probe the interior structure and composition of this icy satellite. Measurements of the neutral and ion composition of the plumes by instruments aboard Cassini reveal the presence of water group species, nitrogen-bearing molecules, and other species that are the major volatiles in cometary ices. Our cometary coma model with chemistry (SUISEI) has been adapted to study this problem. SUISEI produces abundances of the gas species; velocities of the bulk gas, light atomic and molecular hydrogen with escape, and electrons; gas and electron temperatures; column densities to facilitate comparison with observations; energy budget quantities; attenuation of the solar irradiance; and other quantities that can be related readily to the in situ measurements. Likely ion-molecule chemistry and other issues are discussed to gain a perspective on our current understanding of Enceladus. Acknowledgements: We acknowledge funding and support from the SwRI Internal Research and Development Program, the NASA Cassini (CAPS) Mission, and the NSF Planetary Astronomy Program.
Boice Daniel C.
Goldstein Raymond
Martinez Susan E.
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