Extreme densities in Titan's ionosphere during the T85 magnetosheath encounter

We present Cassini Langmuir probe measurements of the highest electron number densities ever reported from the ionosphere of Titan. The measured density reached 4310 cm−3 during the T85 Titan flyby. This is at least 500 cm−3 higher than ever observed before and at least 50% above the average density...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Edberg, N. J. T., Andrews, D. J., Shebanits, O., Agren, K., Wahlund, J. E., Opgenoorth, H. J., Roussos, E., Garnier, P., Cravens, T. E., Badman, S. V., Modolo, R., Bertucci, Cesar, Dougherty, M. K.
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:Argentina
Recursos:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/17089
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/17089
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:TITAN
CASSINI
IONOSPHERE
MAGNETOSHEATH
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descrição
Resumo:We present Cassini Langmuir probe measurements of the highest electron number densities ever reported from the ionosphere of Titan. The measured density reached 4310 cm−3 during the T85 Titan flyby. This is at least 500 cm−3 higher than ever observed before and at least 50% above the average density for similar solar zenith angles. The peak of the ionospheric density is not reached on this flyby, making the maximum measured density a lower limit. During this flyby, we also report that an impacting coronal mass ejection (CME) leaves Titan in the magnetosheath of Saturn, where it is exposed to shocked solar wind plasma for at least 2 h 45 min. We suggest that the solar wind plasma in the magnetosheath during the CME conditions significantly modifies Titan's ionosphere by an addition of particle impact ionization by precipitating protons.

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