Jones, GH;
Arridge, CS;
Coates, AJ;
Lewis, GR;
Kanani, S;
Wellbrock, A;
Young, DT;
... Magee, BA; + view all
(2009)
Fine jet structure of electrically charged grains in Enceladus' plume.
Geophysical Research Letters
, 36
, Article L16204. 10.1029/2009GL038284.
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Abstract
By traversing the plume erupting from high southern latitudes on Saturn's moon Enceladus, Cassini orbiter instruments can directly sample the material therein. Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, CAPS, data show that a major plume component comprises previously-undetected particles of nanometer scales and larger that bridge the mass gap between previously observed gaseous species and solid icy grains. This population is electrically charged both negative and positive, indicating that subsurface triboelectric charging, i.e., contact electrification of condensed plume material may occur through mutual collisions within vents. The electric field of Saturn's magnetosphere controls the jets' morphologies, separating particles according to mass and charge. Fine-scale structuring of these particles' spatial distribution correlates with discrete plume jets' sources, and reveals locations of other possible active regions. The observed plume population likely forms a major component of high velocity nanometer particle streams detected outside Saturn's magnetosphere. Citation: Jones, G. H., et al. (2009), Fine jet structure of electrically charged grains in Enceladus' plume, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L16204, doi:10.1029/2009GL038284.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Fine jet structure of electrically charged grains in Enceladus' plume |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2009GL038284 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GL038284 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union |
| Keywords: | Neutral mass-spectrometer, Cassini ion, Dust, Atmosphere, Fractures, Plasma, Saturn |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/168704 |
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