HR: 0800h
AN: P21B-0535    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling the interaction of Enceladus's plume with Saturn's magnetosphere
AU: * Khurana, K K
EM: kkhurana@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Slichter Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, 91356, United States
AU: Travnicek, P
AF: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Praha 1, Czech Republic
AU: Travnicek, P
AF: Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Praha 1, Czech Republic
AU: Stverak, S
AF: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Praha 1, Czech Republic
AB: Enceladus is now known to be the principal source of particles for the E ring, the neutral torus and the populations of charged particles in the magnetosphere of Saturn. Remote sensing and in situ observations show that a water vapor and dust plume located at the south pole of Enceladus has a source strength exceeding 100 kg/s. Most of the neutral material from the plume escapes local plasma pick-up and charge exchange processes and populates the neutral torus of Saturn. In this presentation, we will study the local interaction of the water plume with plasma from the magnetosphere of Saturn. We use three dimensional Biot-Savart and hybrid models of the interaction to understand the neutral escape and ionization processes near Enceladus. A comparison of the model results with magnetic field and plasma observations is provided.
DE: 2756 Planetary magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033)
DE: 5780 Tori and exospheres
DE: 6280 Saturnian satellites
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting