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The location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause: A comparison with Earth
Author(s) -
Fuselier S. A.,
Frahm R.,
Lewis W. S.,
Masters A.,
Mukherjee J.,
Petrinec S. M.,
Sillanpaa I. J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2013ja019684
Subject(s) - magnetopause , magnetosheath , magnetosphere of saturn , physics , magnetic reconnection , geophysics , saturn , magnetosphere , solar wind , astrobiology , computational physics , astrophysics , magnetic field , planet , quantum mechanics
Data from the Cassini Electron Spectrometer are used to investigate the location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause. Heated, streaming electron distributions in the boundary layer on the magnetosheath side of the magnetopause are evidence of reconnection and an open magnetopause. A model for the location of reconnection is used to compare the modeled and observed streaming direction of the heated electron distributions. Magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause is predicted and observed to occur at locations similar to those at Earth's magnetopause. Although not conclusive, the results here are consistent with the expected importance of X‐line drifts in suppressing low‐shear reconnection. Because of different conditions at Saturn's magnetopause, this suppression is predicted to be more severe at Saturn than at Earth.