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Science 12 September 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5895, pp. 1475 - 1478
DOI: 10.1126/science.1159780
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Reports

The Magnetic Memory of Titan's Ionized Atmosphere

C. Bertucci,1*{dagger} N. Achilleos,2,3 M. K. Dougherty,1 R. Modolo,4 A. J. Coates,5,3 K. Szego,6 A. Masters,1 Y. Ma,7 F. M. Neubauer,8 P. Garnier,9 J.-E. Wahlund,9 D. T. Young10

After 3 years and 31 close flybys of Titan by the Cassini Orbiter, Titan was finally observed in the shocked solar wind, outside of Saturn's magnetosphere. These observations revealed that Titan's flow-induced magnetosphere was populated by "fossil" fields originating from Saturn, to which the satellite was exposed before its excursion through the magnetopause. In addition, strong magnetic shear observed at the edge of Titan's induced magnetosphere suggests that reconnection may have been involved in the replacement of the fossil fields by the interplanetary magnetic field.

1 Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Imperial College London, The Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
2 Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
3 Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, UK.
4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, 613 Van Allen Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242–1479, USA.
5 Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK.
6 KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Konkoly Thege Street 29-33, Building III, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary.
7 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA.
8 Institute for Geophysics and Meterology, Köln University, 50923 Köln, Germany.
9 Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden.
10 Southwest Research Institute, Post Office Box 28510, San Antonio, TX 78227–1301, USA.

* Present address: Instituto de Astronomica y Fisica del Espacio, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cbertucci{at}iafe.uba.ar

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Interaction of Titan's ionosphere with Saturn's magnetosphere.
A. J Coates (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc A 367, 773-788
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Characteristics and variability of Titan's magnetic environment.
C. L Bertucci (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc A 367, 789-798
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)