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Heliospheric Conditions at Saturn During Cassini's Ring-Grazing and Proximal Orbits
Krupp, N.; Jackman, C. M.; Roussos, E. +6 more
We surveyed energetic charged particle measurements by Cassini between 2016 and the end of the mission in order to identify transients of solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic rays. Such transients offer hints about the state of the heliosphere and valuable context for interpreting space weather phenomena in Saturn's magnetosphere. The per…
Extremely Low-Frequency Waves Inside the Diamagnetic Cavity of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Gunell, H.; Eriksson, A.; Karlsson, T. +7 more
The European Space Agency/Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has provided several hundred observations of the cometary diamagnetic cavity induced by the interaction between outgassed cometary particles, cometary ions, and the solar wind magnetic field. Here we present the first electric field measurements of four preperihelion and …
Saturn's Innermost Radiation Belt Throughout and Inward of the D-Ring
Krupp, N.; Roussos, E.; Mitchell, D. G. +6 more
Cassini discovered Saturn's innermost radiation belt during the end of its mission. The belt is populated with relativistic protons, probably up to the trapping limit of ≈20 GeV. It extends from Saturn's dense atmosphere into and throughout the D-ring. The A-C rings separate this belt entirely from the previously known radiation belts, suggesting …
Photometric Modeling and VIS-IR Albedo Maps of Dione From Cassini-VIMS
Buratti, B. J.; Clark, R. N.; Stephan, K. +6 more
We report about visible and infrared albedo maps and spectral indicators of Dione's surface derived from the complete Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) data set acquired between 2004 and 2017 during the Cassini tour in Saturn's system. Maps are derived by applying a photometric correction necessary to disentangle the intrinsic albedo…
Energetic Neutral and Charged Particle Measurements in the Inner Saturnian Magnetosphere During the Grand Finale Orbits of Cassini 2016/2017
Krupp, N.; Dougherty, M. K.; Roussos, E. +6 more
We give an overview of the charged and neutral particle measurements during the Grand Finale of Cassini performed by the Magnetosphere Imaging Instrument, MIMI, on board. The first in situ measurements of MeV particles between the D-ring and the atmosphere of the planet showed protons with energies above 300 MeV with higher count rates when magnet…
Saturn's Planetary Period Oscillations During the Closest Approach of Cassini's Ring-Grazing Orbits
Dougherty, M. K.; Cowley, S. W. H.; Provan, G. +2 more
Saturn's planetary period oscillations (PPOs) are ubiquitous throughout its magnetosphere. We investigate the PPO's azimuthal magnetic field amplitude interior to the field-aligned currents, during the closest approaches of Cassini's ring-grazing orbits (October 2016 to April 2017), with periapses at 2.5 RS. The amplitudes of the northe…
Cassini CAPS Identification of Pickup Ion Compositions at Rhea
Coates, A. J.; Thomsen, M. F.; Jones, G. H. +9 more
Saturn's largest icy moon, Rhea, hosts a tenuous surface-sputtered exosphere composed primarily of molecular oxygen and carbon dioxide. In this Letter, we examine Cassini Plasma Spectrometer velocity space distributions near Rhea and confirm that Cassini detected nongyrotropic fluxes of outflowing CO2+ during both the R1 and R1.5 encounters. Accou…
Photometric Modeling and VIS-IR Albedo Maps of Tethys From Cassini-VIMS
Clark, R. N.; Stephan, K.; D'Aversa, E. +6 more
We report about the derivation of visible (VIS) and infrared (IR) albedo maps and spectral indicators of Saturn's satellite Tethys from the complete Cassini-Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) data set. The application of a photometric correction is necessary to remove illumination and viewing effects from the I/F spectra, to compute s…
First Observation of Lion Roar Emission in Saturn's Magnetosheath
Gurnett, D. A.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Kurth, W. S. +3 more
We present an observation of intense emissions in Saturn's magnetosheath as detected by the Cassini spacecraft. The emissions are observed in the dawn sector (magnetic local time ∼06:45) of the magnetosheath over a time period of 11 h before the spacecraft crossed the bow shock and entered the unshocked solar wind. They are found to be narrow-band…
The Eye of Saturn's North Polar Vortex: Unexpected Cloud Structures Observed at High Spatial Resolution by Cassini/VIMS
Sotin, C.; Brown, R. H.; Baines, K. H. +6 more
Near-infrared spectral maps of Saturn's north polar vortex obtained at high spatial resolution provided by Cassini/Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) reveal localized ammonia clouds composed of unusually large particles exceeding 13 µm in radius, the largest cloud particles documented during the Cassini mission. Taken under near-opt…