| Literature DB >> 15731443 |
D T Young1, J-J Berthelier, M Blanc, J L Burch, S Bolton, A J Coates, F J Crary, R Goldstein, M Grande, T W Hill, R E Johnson, R A Baragiola, V Kelha, D J McComas, K Mursula, E C Sittler, K R Svenes, K Szegö, P Tanskanen, M F Thomsen, S Bakshi, B L Barraclough, Z Bebesi, D Delapp, M W Dunlop, J T Gosling, J D Furman, L K Gilbert, D Glenn, C Holmlund, J-M Illiano, G R Lewis, D R Linder, S Maurice, H J McAndrews, B T Narheim, E Pallier, D Reisenfeld, A M Rymer, H T Smith, R L Tokar, J Vilppola, C Zinsmeyer.
Abstract
During Cassini's initial orbit, we observed a dynamic magnetosphere composed primarily of a complex mixture of water-derived atomic and molecular ions. We have identified four distinct regions characterized by differences in both bulk plasma properties and ion composition. Protons are the dominant species outside about 9 RS (where RS is the radial distance from the center of Saturn), whereas inside, the plasma consists primarily of a corotating comet-like mix of water-derived ions with approximately 3% N+. Over the A and B rings, we found an ionosphere in which O2+ and O+ are dominant, which suggests the possible existence of a layer of O2 gas similar to the atmospheres of Europa and Ganymede.Entities:
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Year: 2005 PMID： 15731443 DOI： 10.1126/science.1106151
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Science ISSN： 0036-8075 Impact factor: 47.728