HR: 0800h
AN: P31A-0191    [Abstracts]
TI: Saturn periodicities as revealed by energetic neutral atoms
AU: Paranicas, C
EM: chris.paranicas@jhuapl.edu
AF: Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, 20723, United States
AU: * Carbary, J F
EM: james.carbary@jhuapl.edu
AF: Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, 20723, United States
AU: Brandt, P C
EM: pontus.brandt@jhuapl.edu
AF: Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, 20723, United States
AU: Mitchell, D G
EM: donald.g.mitchell@jhuapl.edu
AF: Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, 20723, United States
AU: Kurth, W S
EM: william-kurth@uiowa.edu
AF: University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AB: The ion and neutral camera (INCA) is part of the MIMI instrument on the Cassini spacecraft. It images high-speed neutrals that are created when an energetic ion obtains an electron from a neutral. In this way, energetic neutral atom (ENA) images are diagnostic of neutral distributions and their dynamics. Previously, we have explained ENA periodicities in terms of two components: a symmetric background distribution, and an asymmetric corotating component. This latter is likely an injection of ions rotating through the magnetosphere emitting ENAs as it interacts with the neutral gas. We now extend our understanding of ENA periodicities by examining multiple case studies involving various projections of the ENA images. Periodicities can be quantified and compared directly to SKR periodicities. A simple model using the standard neutral background and injection is used to investigate the relationship between ENA and SKR periods. We also look into the perturbation to the system due to the asymmetric ring current (corotating ion distribution) that dominates our images.
DE: 2720 Energetic particles: trapped
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 5719 Interactions with particles and fields
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
DE: 6275 Saturn
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting