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Related papers: Saturn's Ionosphere

200 papers

The origin and evolution of Saturn's rings is critical to understanding the Saturnian system as a whole. Here, we discuss the physical and chemical composition of the rings, as a foundation for evolutionary models described in subsequent…

Saturn's C ring contains multiple structures that appear to be density waves driven by time-variable anomalies in the planet's gravitational field. Semi-empirical extensions of density wave theory enable the observed wave properties to be…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2022-01-24 M. M. Hedman , P. D. Nicholson , M. El Moutamid , S. Smotherman

Quantifying tidal effects on giant planets has recently made significant advances, thanks in particular to the Cassini space probe. During its thirteen-year orbit around Saturn, numerous measurements from different instruments made it…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-03-03 Valéry Lainey , Marco Zannoni , Vincent Robert , Tristan Guillot

A multi-decade record of ground-based mid-infrared (7-25 $\mu$m) images of Saturn is used to explore seasonal and non-seasonal variability in thermal emission over more than a Saturnian year (1984-2022). Thermal emission measured by 3-m and…

The Voyager 1 and 2 Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) solar and stellar occultation dataset represents one of the primary, pre-Cassini sources of information that we have on the neutral upper atmosphere of Saturn. Despite its importance,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-07-15 Ronald J. Vervack , Julianne I. Moses

Here we present the current state of knowledge on the long-term evolution of Saturn's moon system due to tides within Saturn. First we provide some background on tidal evolution, orbital resonances and satellite tides. Then we address in…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-01-30 Matija Ćuk , Maryame El Moutamid , Giacomo Lari , Marc Neveu , Francis Nimmo , Benoît Noyelles , Alyssa Rhoden , Melaine Saillenfest

Saturn's axial tilt produces seasons in a similar way as on Earth. Both the stratospheric temperature and composition are affected by this latitudinally varying insolation along the seasons. The thermal structure is controlled and regulated…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-02-17 V. Hue , T. K. Greathouse , T. Cavalié , M. Dobrijevic , F. Hersant

Saturn's northern summertime hemisphere was mapped by JWST/MIRI (4.9-27.9 $\mu$m) in November 2022, tracing the seasonal evolution of temperatures, aerosols, and chemical species in the five years since the end of the Cassini mission. The…

We describe the prediction, design, execution and calibration of stellar and solar occultation observations of Saturn's rings by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument on the Cassini spacecraft. Particular attention…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-06-24 P. D. Nicholson , T. Ansty , M. M. Hedman , D. Creel , J. Ahlers , R. A. Harbison , R. H. Brown , R. N. Clark , K. H. Baines , B. J. Buratti , C. Sotin , S. V. Badman

Over the last eight years, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) aboard the Cassini orbiter has returned hyperspectral images in the 0.35-5.1 micron range of the icy satellites and rings of Saturn. These very different objects…

Every 19 years, Saturn passes through Jupiter's 'flapping' magnetotail. Here, we report Chandra X-ray observations of Saturn planned to coincide with this rare planetary alignment and to analyse Saturn's magnetospheric response when…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-07-14 D. M. Weigt , W. R. Dunn , C. M. Jackman , R. Kraft , G. Branduardi-Raymont , J. D. Nichols , A. D. Wibisono , M. F. Vogt , G. R. Gladstone

Saturn's axial tilt of 26.7{\deg} produces seasons in a similar way as on Earth. Both the stratospheric temperature and composition are affected by this latitudinally varying insolation along Saturn's orbital path. A new time dependent 2D…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 Vincent Hue , Thibault Cavalié , Michel Dobrijevic , Franck Hersant , Thomas K. Greathouse

Saturn is ringing weakly. Exquisite data from the Cassini mission reveal the presence of f-mode oscillations as they excite density waves in Saturn's rings. These oscillations have displacement amplitudes of order a metre on Saturn's…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-09-04 Yanqin Wu , Yoram Lithwick

The Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) on board Cassini revealed an equatorial oscillation of stratospheric temperature, reminiscent of the Earth's Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), as well as anomalously high temperatures under…

Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics · Physics 2020-08-26 Deborah Bardet , Aymeric Spiga , Sandrine Guerlet , Simon Cabanes , Ehouarn Millour , Alexandre Boissinot

We use the clathrate hydrate trapping theory to calculate the enrichments in O, N, S, Xe, Ar and Kr compared to solar in Saturn's atmosphere. For this, we calibrate our calculations using two different carbon abundance determinations that…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-11 Olivier Mousis , Yann Alibert , Willy Benz

The observed disparity between the radial dependence of the ion and electron densities measured by the Cassini plasma and radio science instruments are used to show that the region between the outer edge of Saturn's main rings and its…

Space Physics · Physics 2017-01-11 Robert E Johnson , Wei-Lin Tseng , Meredith K Elrod , Ann M Persoon

This review presents an insight into our current knowledge of the atmospheres of the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the satellite Titan, and those of exoplanets. It deals with the thermal structure, aerosol…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-12-12 Agustín Sánchez-Lavega , Patrick Irwin , Antonio García Muñoz

We have analyzed the highest-quality images to be obtained by Cassini of Saturn's main rings after the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) and before the Ring Grazing Orbits (RGO) and Grand Finale (GF). These images are comparable to those of SOI…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-06-06 Matthew S. Tiscareno , Brent E. Harris

We analyze data from the final two years of the Cassini mission to retrieve the distributions of methane, ethane, acetylene, ethylene, and benzene in Saturn's upper stratosphere and mesosphere from stellar occultations observed by the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-05-06 Zarah L. Brown , Tommi T. Koskinen , Julianne I. Moses , Sandrine Guerlet

Saturn's magnetospheric magnetic field, planetary radio emissions, plasma populations and magnetospheric structure are all known to be modulated at periods close to the assumed rotation period of the planetary interior. These oscillations…