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Related papers: Titan's variable ionosphere during the T118-T119 C…

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Titan is the only moon with a substantial atmosphere, the only other thick N$_{2}$ atmosphere besides Earth's, the site of extraordinarily complex atmospheric chemistry that far surpasses any other solar system atmosphere, and the only…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-01-10 Sarah M. Hörst

In this fourth paper in a series, we present a model of the remarkable temporal and azimuthal variability of the Io plasma torus observed during the Cassini encounter with Jupiter. Over a period of three months, the Cassini Ultraviolet…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-16 A. J. Steffl , P. A. Delamere , F. Bagenal

On January 14, 2001, shortly after the Cassini spacecraft's closest approach to Jupiter, the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (UVIS) made a radial scan through the midnight sector of Io plasma torus. The Io torus has not been previously…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2013-01-17 Andrew J. Steffl , Fran Bagenal , A. Ian F. Stewart

Titan has a climate system with similarities to Earth, including the presence of a thick atmosphere made up of several atmospheric layers. As on Earth, Titan's climate is influenced by several factors: the gaseous species making up the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-03-17 Zoé Perrin , Nathalie Carrasco , Thomas Gautier , Nathalie Ruscassier , Julien Maillard , Carlos Afonso , Ludovic Vettier

The [NII] 122 and 205 \mu m transitions are powerful tracers of the ionized gas in the interstellar medium. By combining data from 21 galaxies selected from the Herschel KINGFISH and Beyond the Peak surveys, we have compiled 141 spatially…

The atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon Titan is driven by photochemistry, charged particle precipitation from Saturn's upstream magnetosphere, and presumably by the diffusion of the magnetospheric field into the outer ionosphere, amongst…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2011-07-21 Chris Arridge , Nick Achilleos , Patrick Guio

In order to analyze varying plasma conditions upstream of Titan, we have combined a physical model of Saturn's plasmadisk with a geometrical model of the oscillating current sheet. During modeled oscillation phases where Titan is furthest…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2014-11-26 N. Achilleos , C. S. Arridge , C. Bertucci , P. Guio , N. Romanelli , N. Sergis

The Cassini/Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument has been observing the middle atmosphere of Titan over almost half a Saturnian year. We used the CIRS dataset processed through the up-to-date calibration pipeline to…

Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, has a thick atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and methane. The dense orange-brown smog hiding the satellite's surface is produced by photochemical reactions of methane, nitrogen and their dissociation…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Olivier Mousis , Bernard Schmitt

Along the I24, I27 and I31 flybys of Io (1999-2001), the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) onboard the Galileo spacecraft observed localised regions of energetic protons losses (155 keV-1250 keV). Using back-tracking particle simulations…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-07-03 H. L. F. Huybrighs , C. P. A. van Buchem , A. Blöcker , V. Dols , C. F. Bowers , C. M. Jackman

Cassini's observations of Titan's atmosphere are exemplary benchmarks for exoplanet atmospheric studies owing to (1) their precision and (2) our independent knowledge of Titan. Leveraging these observations, we perform retrievals (i.e.,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-18 Prajwal Niraula , Julien de Wit , Robert Hargreaves , Iouli E. Gordon , Clara Sousa-Silva

Investigating the overall brightness of planets (and moons) provides insight into their envelopes and energy budgets [1, 2, 3, 4]. Titan phase curves (a representation of overall brightness vs. Sun-object-observer phase angle) have been…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2017-04-26 Antonio García Muñoz , Panayotis Lavvas , Robert A. West

Thanks to the \textit{Cassini} spacecraft onboard instruments, it has been known that Titan's ionospheric chemistry is complex and the molecular growth is initiated through the photolysis of the most abundant species directly in the upper…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-01-08 Jérémy Bourgalais , Nathalie Carraso , Ludovic Vettier , Pascal Pernot

Previous investigations have employed more than 100 close observations of Titan by the Cassini orbiter to elucidate connections between the production and distribution of Titan's vast, organic-rich chemical inventory and its atmospheric…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-10-01 A. E. Thelen , C. A. Nixon , N. J. Chanover , M. A. Cordiner , E. M. Molter , N. A. Teanby , P. G. J. Irwin , J. Serigano , S. B. Charnley

Using adaptive optics on the W.M. Keck II telescope we imaged Titan several times during 1999 to 2001 in narrowband near-infrared filters selected to probe Titan's stratosphere and upper troposphere. We observed a bright feature around the…

On day 138 of 2010, the plume of dust and gas emerging from Enceladus' South Polar Terrain passed between the Sun and the Cassini spacecraft. This solar occultation enabled Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) and the Visual…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-01-25 M. M. Hedman , D. Dhingra , P. D. Nicholson , C. J. Hansen , G. Portyankina , S. Ye , Y. Dong

We have analyzed spectra recorded between 50 and 650 cm$^{-1}$ by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) aboard the Cassini spacecraft at low and high emission angles to determine simultaneously the H$_2$ mole fraction and ortho-to-para…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-09-24 Bruno Bézard , Sandrine Vinatier

In December 2010, a major storm erupted in Saturn's northern hemisphere near 37 degree planetographic latitude. This rather surprising event, occurring at an unexpected latitude and time, is the sixth "Great White Spot" (GWS) storm observed…

We present the annual trigonometric parallax of PSR J1744-1134 derived from an analysis of pulse times of arrival. The measured parallax, pi = 2.8+/-0.3 mas ranks among the most precisely determined distances to any pulsar. The parallax…

This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the ionosphere of Saturn. We give an overview of Saturn ionospheric science from the Voyager era to the present, with a focus on the wealth of new data and discoveries enabled by Cassini,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-06-23 Luke Moore , Marina Galand , Arvydas J. Kliore , Andrew F. Nagy , James O'Donoghue