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Science 13 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5724, pp. 986 - 989
DOI: 10.1126/science.1109807
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Reports

Cassini Measurements of Cold Plasma in the Ionosphere of Titan

J.-E. Wahlund,1* R. Boström,1 G. Gustafsson,1 D. A. Gurnett,2 W. S. Kurth,2 A. Pedersen,3 T. F. Averkamp,2 G. B. Hospodarsky,2 A. M. Persoon,2 P. Canu,4 F. M. Neubauer,5 M. K. Dougherty,6 A. I. Eriksson,1 M. W. Morooka,1 R. Gill,1 M. André,1 L. Eliasson,7 I. Müller-Wodarg6

The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) Langmuir probe (LP) sensor observed the cold plasma environment around Titan during the first two flybys. The data show that conditions in Saturn's magnetosphere affect the structure and dynamics deep in the ionosphere of Titan. The maximum measured ionospheric electron number density reached 3800 per cubic centimeter near closest approach, and a complex chemistry was indicated. The electron temperature profiles are consistent with electron heat conduction from the hotter Titan wake. The ionospheric escape flux was estimated to be 1025 ions per second.

1 Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden.
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
3 Department of Physics, University of Oslo, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway.
4 Centre d'Etude des Environnements Terrestre et Planétaires/CNRS/Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, 78140 Vélizy-Villacoublay, France.
5 Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, Köln University, D-50923 Köln, Germany.
6 Blacket Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, UK.
7 Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, SE-981 28 Kiruna, Sweden.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jwe{at}irfu.se

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Intensive Titan Exploration Begins.
P. R. Mahaffy (2005)
Science 308, 969-970
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Titan's Magnetic Field Signature During the First Cassini Encounter.
H. Backes, F. M. Neubauer, M. K. Dougherty, N. Achilleos, N. Andre, C. S. Arridge, C. Bertucci, G. H. Jones, K. K. Khurana, C. T. Russell, et al. (2005)
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)