Universität zu Köln

Simon, Sven ORCID: 0000-0002-6204-5437, Wennmacher, Alexandre, Neubauer, Fritz M., Bertucci, Cesar L., Kriegel, Hendrik, Russell, Christopher T. and Dougherty, Michele K. (2010). Dynamics of Saturn's magnetodisk near Titan's orbit: Comparison of Cassini magnetometer observations from real and virtual Titan flybys. Planet Space Sci., 58 (12). S. 1625 - 1636. OXFORD: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. ISSN 0032-0633

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Abstract

We analyze the variability of the ambient magnetospheric field along Titan's orbit at 20.3 Saturn radii. However, while our preceding study (Simon et al., 2010) focused on Cassini magnetometer observations from the 62 Titan flybys (TA-T62) between October 2004 and October 2009, the present work discusses magnetic field data that were collected near Titan's orbit when the moon was far away. In analogy to the observations during TA-T62, the magnetospheric fields detected during these 79 virtual Titan flybys are strongly affected by the presence of Saturn's bowl-shaped and highly dynamic magnetodisk current sheet. We therefore provide a systematic classification of the magnetic field observations as magnetodisk current sheet or lobe-type scenarios. Among the 141 (62 real + 79 virtual) crossings of Titan's orbit between July 2004 and December 2009, only 17 encounters (9 real + 8 virtual) took place within quiet, magnetodisk lobe-type fields. During another 50 encounters (21 real + 29 virtual), rapid transitions between current sheet and lobe fields were observed around the moon's orbital plane. Most of the encounters (54=22 real + 32 virtual) occurred when Titan's orbit was embedded in highly distorted current sheet fields, thereby invalidating the frequently applied idealized picture of Titan interacting with a homogeneous and stationary magnetospheric background field. The locations of real and virtual Titan flybys are correlated to each other. Each of the 62 real Titan flybys possesses at least one virtual counterpart that occurred shortly before or after the real encounter and at nearly the same orbital position. A systematic comparison between Cassini magnetometer observations from the real Titan flybys and their virtual companions suggests that there is no clear evidence of Titan exerting a significant level of control on the vertical oscillatory motion of the magnetodisk near its orbit. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Simon, Sven UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-6204-5437 UNSPECIFIED Wennmacher, Alexandre UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Neubauer, Fritz M. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Bertucci, Cesar L. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Kriegel, Hendrik UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Russell, Christopher T. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Dougherty, Michele K. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-496185
DOI:	10.1016/j.pss.2010.08.006
Journal or Publication Title:	Planet Space Sci.
Volume:	58
Number:	12
Page Range:	S. 1625 - 1636
Date:	2010
Publisher:	PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Place of Publication:	OXFORD
ISSN:	0032-0633
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language MAGNETOSPHERE Multiple languages Astronomy & Astrophysics Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/49618