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UV Io footprint leading spot: A key feature for understanding the UV Io footprint multiplicity?
Saur, J.; Bonfond, B.; Gérard, J. -C. +3 more
The electromagnetic interaction between Io and the Jovian magnetosphere generates a UV auroral footprint in both Jovian hemispheres. Multiple spots were observed in the northern Jovian hemisphere when Io was in the northern part of the plasma torus and vice-versa for the South. Based on recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) measurements, we report h…
Structure and dynamics of the solar wind/ionosphere interface on Mars: MEX-ASPERA-3 and MEX-MARSIS observations
Barabash, S.; Lundin, R.; Woch, J. +8 more
The measurements of the local plasma parameters of the ionospheric and solar wind plasmas and the magnetic field strength carried out by the ASPERA-3 and MARSIS experiments onboard Mars Express (MEX) in the subsolar region of the induced Martian magnetosphere provide us with a first test of the pressure balance across the solar wind/ionosphere int…
Evidence for temporal variability of Enceladus' gas jets: Modeling of Cassini observations
Dougherty, Michele K.; Saur, Joachim; Simon, Sven +5 more
Time variability of Enceladus' gas plume is deduced from a joint investigation of Cassini spacecraft magnetic field data obtained during the first three flybys E0, E1 and E2 and neutral density measurements during the E2 flyby with a model that describes Enceladus' plasma interaction with individual jets. We infer a total plume content of ~7 × 10<…
Recent in-situ observations of magnetic reconnection in near-Earth space
Paschmann, Götz
The paper presents a brief review of recent in-situ observations of reconnection in space, with emphasis on results pertaining to the question of anti-parallel versus component reconnection, the implied spatial and temporal scales, the location of the reconnection sites, particle acceleration, reconnection rates, the dependence on plasma β, and th…
Enceladus: An estimate of heat flux and lithospheric thickness from flexurally supported topography
Neukum, Gerhard; Thomas, Peter C.; Hussmann, Hauke +4 more
We have identified flexural uplift along a rift zone of the Harran Sulci, Enceladus, using Cassini images and stereo-derived topography. On the assumption that the upraised topography is related to a flexed elastic plate, shape modeling yields an effective lithospheric thickness of 0.3 km and, combined with the strength envelope, a mechanical lith…
Phyllosilicate and sulfate-hematite deposits within Miyamoto crater in southern Sinus Meridiani, Mars
Clark, R. N.; Arvidson, R. E.; Morris, R. V. +13 more
Orbital topographic, image, and spectral data show that sulfate- and hematite-bearing plains deposits similar to those explored by the MER rover Opportunity unconformably overlie the northeastern portion of the 160 km in diameter Miyamoto crater. Crater floor materials exhumed to the west of the contact exhibit CRISM and OMEGA NIR spectral signatu…
Conservation of open solar magnetic flux and the floor in the heliospheric magnetic field
St. Cyr, O. C.; Owens, M. J.; Crooker, N. U. +5 more
The near-Earth heliospheric magnetic field intensity, |B|, exhibits a strong solar cycle variation, but returns to the same ``floor'' value each solar minimum. The current minimum, however, has seen |B| drop below previous minima, bringing in to question the existence of a floor, or at the very least requiring a re-assessment of its value. In this…
Cluster multispacecraft determination of AKR angular beaming
Pickett, J. S.; Mutel, R. L.; Christopher, I. W.
Simultaneous observations of AKR emission using the four-spacecraft Cluster array were used to make the first direct measurements of the angular beaming patterns of individual bursts. By comparing the spacecraft locations and AKR burst locations, the angular beaming pattern was found to be narrowly confined to a plane containing the magnetic field…
Transient layers in the topside ionosphere of Mars
Gurnett, D. A.; Morgan, D. D.; Kopf, A. J. +1 more
Radar soundings from the MARSIS instrument on board the Mars Express spacecraft have shown that distinct layers can occur in the topside ionosphere of Mars, well above the main photo-ionization layer. These layers appear as cusps, or sometimes steps, in plots of the time delay as a function of frequency. Usually only one topside layer is observed,…
Surface brightness variations seen by VIRTIS on Venus Express and implications for the evolution of the Lada Terra region, Venus
Drossart, Pierre; Piccioni, Giuseppe; Helbert, Jörn +3 more
Venus Express is since April 11, 2006 in orbit around Venus. VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) has started only hours after orbit insertion to collect an immense and unique data set. Of special interest is the wavelength range from 1-1.5 microns which includes the ``atmospheric windows''. By averaging several hundred multi…