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Science 25 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5713, pp. 1266 - 1270
DOI: 10.1126/science.1106098
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Reports

Cassini Magnetometer Observations During Saturn Orbit Insertion

M. K. Dougherty,1* N. Achilleos,1 N. Andre,2 C. S. Arridge,1 A. Balogh,1 C. Bertucci,1 M. E. Burton,3 S. W. H. Cowley,4 G. Erdos,5 G. Giampieri,1 K.-H. Glassmeier,6 K. K. Khurana,7 J. Leisner,7 F. M. Neubauer,8 C. T. Russell,7 E. J. Smith,3 D. J. Southwood,9 B. T. Tsurutani3

Cassini's successful orbit insertion has provided the first examination of Saturn's magnetosphere in 23 years, revealing a dynamic plasma and magnetic environment on short and long time scales. There has been no noticeable change in the internal magnetic field, either in its strength or its near-alignment with the rotation axis. However, the external magnetic field is different compared with past spacecraft observations. The current sheet within the magnetosphere is thinner and more extended, and we observed small diamagnetic cavities and ion cyclotron waves of types that were not reported before.

1 Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
2 CESR, 31028 Toulouse, France.
3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester University, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
5 KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary.
6 Technische Universitat Braunschweig, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
7 University of California Los Angeles Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
8 Institute for Geophysics and Meterology, Köln University, 50923 Köln, Germany.
9 European Space Agency, 75738 Paris, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.dougherty{at}imperial.ac.uk

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