Related papers: Titan's Atomic and Molecular Nitrogen Tori
Remote sensing observations meet some limitations when used to study the bulk atmospheric composition of the giant planets of our solar system. A remarkable example of the superiority of in situ probe measurements is illustrated by the…
We present a new computer code for modeling magnetized neutron star atmospheres in a wide range of magnetic fields (10^{12} - 10^{15} G) and effective temperatures (3 \times 10^5 - 10^7 K). The atmosphere is assumed to consist either of…
Titan's atmosphere possesses thick haze layers, but their formation mechanisms remain poorly understood, including the influence of oxygen-containing gas components on organic matter synthesis. As the most abundant oxygen-containing gas,…
Analysis of the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (UVIS) stellar and solar occultations at Titan to date include 12 species: N$_{2}$ (nitrogen), CH$_{4}$ (methane), C$_{2}$H$_{2}$ (acetylene), C$_{2}$H$_{4}$ (ethylene),…
A surprising and unexpected phenomenon observed during Cassini's Grand Finale was the spacecraft charging to positive potentials in Saturn's ionosphere. Here, the ionospheric plasma was depleted of free electrons with negatively charged…
Context: Saturn's massive gravity is expected to causes a tide in Titan's atmosphere, producing a surface pressure variation through the orbit of Titan and tidal winds in the troposphere. The future Dragonfly mission could analyse this…
The detection of outgassing water vapor from Enceladus is one of the great breakthroughs of the Cassini mission. The fate of this water once ionized has been widely studied; here we investigate the effects of purely neutral-neutral…
A large drift in the rotation rate of Titan observed by Cassini provided the first evidence of a subsurface ocean isolating the massive core from the icy crust. Seasonal exchange of angular momentum between the surface and atmosphere…
The longevity of Cassini's exploration of Saturn's atmosphere (a third of a Saturnian year) means that we have been able to track the seasonal evolution of atmospheric temperatures, chemistry and cloud opacity over almost every season, from…
The temperature structure of Titan's upper atmosphere exhibits large variability resulting from numerous spatially and temporally irregular external energy sources, seasonal changes, and the influence of molecular species produced via…
Titan's ionosphere contains a plethora of hydrocarbons and nitrile cations and anions as measured by the Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft. Data from the CAPS Ion Beam…
The guiding center formalism is employed to analyze the motion of a charged relativistic particle in an inhomogeneous magnetic field, subject to magnetic mirroring and energy loss due to cooling. The governing equation for the evolution of…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in solar system and astrophysical plasmas, through which stored magnetic energy associated with current sheets is converted into thermal, kinetic and wave energy. Magnetic reconnection is also…
We use a statistical thermodynamic approach to determine the composition of clathrate hydrates which may form from a multiple compound gas whose composition is similar to that of Titan's atmosphere. Assuming that noble gases are initially…
We construct hydrogen atmosphere models for strongly magnetized neutron stars in thermodynamic equilibrium, taking into account partial ionization. The presence of bound states affects the equation of state, absorption coefficients, and…
This paper considers the problem of modeling the light polarization that emerges from an astrophysical plasma composed of atoms whose excitation state is significantly influenced by the anisotropy of the incident radiation field. In…
A striking feature of the atmosphere of Titan is that no heavy noble gases other than argon were detected by the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) aboard the Huygens probe during its descent to Titan's surface in January 2005. Here…
Meteoroid entry into planetary atmospheres generates bow shocks, resulting in high-temperature gas conditions that drive chemical reactions. In this paper, we perform three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of meteoroid entry using the…
As it has already done for Earth, the sun, and the stars, seismology has the potential to radically change the way the interiors of giant planets are studied. In a sequence of events foreseen by only a few, observations of Saturn's rings by…
The magnetization relationships for magnetically uniform spherical particles of the Saturn rings are derived. The problem of a solitary magnetized sphere and spherical particle among identical particles scattered in a disk-like structure is…