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Far plasma wake of Titan from the RPWS observations: A case study
Author(s) -
Modolo R.,
Wahlund J.E.,
Boström R.,
Canu P.,
Kurth W. S.,
Gurnett D.,
Lewis G. R.,
Coates A. J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl030482
Subject(s) - titan (rocket family) , physics , wake , plasma , langmuir probe , saturn , ionosphere , electron density , waves in plasmas , ion , atomic physics , outflow , electron , computational physics , astronomy , plasma diagnostics , planet , meteorology , mechanics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
The Titan's plasma wake has been investigated using observations from the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument onboard the Cassini spacecraft during one Titan flyby on December 26, 2005. The Langmuir Probe and the wideband receiver suggest a strong asymmetry of the plasma wake, which is displaced from the ideal wake. Two distinct structures are identified inbound and outbound of the flyby with significantly different electron number densities (n e ). The maximum electron number density reached 14 cm −3 on the Saturn side, connected to the sunlit ionosphere, while on the opposite side of Saturn observations indicate a density smaller than 2 cm −3 . Other derived parameters of the Langmuir probe analysis suggest also a difference in plasma composition between the two structures, where heavy and light ions dominate the Saturn and anti‐Saturn side respectively. The total ion outflow is estimated at 2–7 × 10 25 ions/s assuming a cylindrical geometry for the plasma wake.