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Titan’s internal structure and the evolutionary consequences
Fortes, A. D.
Titan’s moment of inertia (MoI), estimated from the quadrupole gravity field measured by the Cassini spacecraft, is 0.342, which has been interpreted as evidence of a partially differentiated internal mass distribution. It is shown here that the observed MoI is equally consistent with a fully differentiated internal structure comprising a shell of…
Titan’s global crater population: A new assessment
Lorenz, R. D.; Neish, C. D.
We report a revised crater population for Titan using Cassini RADAR data through January 2010 (flyby T65), and make a size-dependent correction for the incomplete coverage (∼33%) using a Monte-Carlo model. Qualitatively, Titan’s landscape is more heavily cratered than Earth, but much less than Mars or Ganymede: the area fraction covered by craters…
Titan's fluvial valleys: Morphology, distribution, and spectral properties
Sotin, C.; Barnes, J. W.; Brown, R. H. +11 more
Titan's fluvial channels have been investigated based on data obtained by the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument and the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft. In this paper, a database of fluvial features is created based on radar-SAR data aiming to unveil the distribution and the morphologic and s…
Spatial and temporal variations in Titan's surface temperatures from Cassini CIRS observations
Irwin, P. G. J.; Teanby, N. A.; de Kok, R. +4 more
We report a wide-ranging study of Titan's surface temperatures by analysis of the Moon's outgoing radiance through a spectral window in the thermal infrared at 19 µm (530 cm-1) characterized by lower atmospheric opacity. We begin by modeling Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) far infrared spectra collected in the perio…
The Saturnian satellite Rhea as seen by Cassini VIMS
Baines, Kevin H.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Clark, Roger N. +16 more
Since the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in June 2004, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer has obtained new spectral data of the icy satellites of Saturn in the spectral range from 0.35 to 5.2 µm. Numerous flybys were performed at Saturn’s second largest satellite Rhea, providing a nearly complete coverage with pixel-gr…
Ion densities and velocities in the inner plasma torus of Saturn
Persoon, A. M.; Wahlund, J. -E.; Morooka, M. W. +1 more
We present plasma data from the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) Langmuir probe (LP), mapping the ion density and velocity of Saturn's inner plasma torus. Data from 129 orbits, recorded during the period from the 1st of February 2005 to the 27th of June 2010, are used to map the extension of the inner plasma torus. The dominant part of…
Energetic charged particle weathering of Saturn's inner satellites
Krupp, N.; Roussos, E.; Hendrix, A. R. +9 more
We characterize the relative importance of energetic electrons and protons to the weathering of five of the inner satellites of Saturn. To do this, we present data from the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument on the Cassini spacecraft, some of which is averaged over the whole mission to date. We also compute averaged proton and electron energy spect…
Titan's lakes chemical composition: Sources of uncertainties and variability
Lunine, J. I.; Cordier, D.; Mousis, O. +5 more
Between 2004 and 2007 the instruments of the Cassini spacecraft, orbiting within the Saturn system, discovered dark patches in the polar regions of Titan. These features are interpreted as hydrocarbon lakes and seas with ethane and methane identified as the main compounds. In this context, we have developed a lake-atmosphere equilibrium model allo…
Surface waves on Saturn's magnetopause
Coates, A. J.; Dougherty, M. K.; Jones, G. H. +3 more
Waves on the surface of a planetary magnetopause promote energy transport into the magnetosphere, representing an important aspect of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. At Saturn's magnetopause it has been proposed that growth of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability produces greater wave activity on the dawn side of the surface than on the dusk …
Dissipation of Titan's north polar cloud at northern spring equinox
Nicholson, Philip D.; Sotin, Christophe; Barnes, Jason W. +10 more
Saturn's Moon Titan has a thick atmosphere with a meteorological cycle. We report on the evolution of the giant cloud system covering its north pole using observations acquired by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft. A radiative transfer model in spherical geometry shows that the clouds are found at an altit…