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Cassini ISS astrometry of the Saturnian satellites: Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Iapetus, and Phoebe 2004-2012

Cooper, N. J.; Lainey, V.; Murray, C. D. +1 more

Context. The Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn since 2004 and has returned images of satellites with an astrometric resolution as high as a few hundred meters per pixel.
Aims: We used the images taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Image Science Subsystem (ISS) instrument on board Cassini, for the purpose of astrometry.

Stratospheric benzene and hydrocarbon aerosols detected in Saturn's auroral regions

Simon, A. A.; Spiga, A.; Fouchet, T. +3 more

Context. Saturn's polar upper atmosphere exhibits significant auroral activity; however, its impact on stratospheric chemistry (i.e. the production of benzene and heavier hydrocarbons) and thermal structure remains poorly documented.
Aims: We aim to bring new constraints on the benzene distribution in Saturn's stratosphere, to characterize po…

Three-micron extinction of the Titan haze in the 250-700 km altitude range: Possible evidence of a particle-aging process

Bar-Nun, Akiva; Kim, Sang Joon; Courtin, Régis

Context. The chemical nature of the Titan haze is poorly understood. The investigation carried out by the Cassini-Huygens suite of instruments is bringing new insights into this question.
Aims: This work aims at deriving the vertical variation of the spectral structure of the 3.3-3.4 µm absorption feature of the Titan haze from Cassini …

Photochemical response to the variation of temperature in the 2011-2012 stratospheric vortex of Saturn

Fletcher, L. N.; Hartogh, P.; Hue, V. +4 more

Context. A hot vortex formed in the stratosphere of Saturn following the 2010-2011 Northern Storm. Huge temperature increases have been measured in the vortex around the millibar level. Enhancements in hydrocarbon abundances have been observed at the millibar level in 2011-2012 inside this vortex.
Aims: We model the time-dependent photochemis…