 |
| Titel |
Plasma and dust characteristics of the Enceladus plume |
| VerfasserIn |
Shotaro Sakai, Michiko Morooka, Jan-Erik Wahlund, Shigeto Watanabe |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
|
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250081166
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| We will present the Cassini the Radio Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) /Langmuir probe (LP)
observations from the Enceladus flybys. Previous results from E03-E06 flybys showed that
the electron densities were less than 1% of the ion densities up to 7 RE above the
South Pole. This is due to that the plume dust of nano- to micro- meter sized are
negatively charged and electrically coupled to the background magnetospheric
plasma. Here we use E07, E08 and E11 encounters, where Cassini passed across the
plume of various altitudes, to determine the vertical and altitudinal structure of the
Enceladus plume and its dust and plasma characteristics. The ion/electron densities were
about 104 cm-3 for E07 where the Cassini was 100 km from Enceladus, while
they decrease to 102 cm-3 at the altitude around 2000 km for E08 and 11. The
electrical potential of the dust was mostly negative in the plume. At times, positive
dust potentials were found in around the plume. It is possible that charging of dust
doesn’t achieve a static state since dust has just been released from Enceladus.
We will discuss the dust charge state and the plasma characteristics in the plume. |
|
|
|
|
|
|