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Science 7 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5868, pp. 1380 - 1384
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151524
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Reports
The Dust Halo of Saturn's Largest Icy Moon, Rhea
G. H. Jones,1,2,3*
E. Roussos,1
N. Krupp,1
U. Beckmann,4
A. J. Coates,2,3
F. Crary,5
I. Dandouras,6
V. Dikarev,1,4,7
M. K. Dougherty,8
P. Garnier,6,9
C. J. Hansen,10
A. R. Hendrix,
G. B. Hospodarsky,11
R. E. Johnson,12
S. Kempf,4
K. K. Khurana,13
S. M. Krimigis,14,15
H. Krüger,1
W. S. Kurth,11
A. Lagg,1
H. J. McAndrews,2,19
D. G. Mitchell,14
C. Paranicas,14
F. Postberg,4
C. T. Russell,13
J. Saur,16
M. Seiß,17
F. Spahn,17
R. Srama,4
D. F. Strobel,18
R. Tokar,19
J.-E. Wahlund,9
R. J. Wilson,19
J. Woch,1
D. Young5
Saturn's moon Rhea had been considered massive enough to retain a thin, externally generated atmosphere capable of locally affecting Saturn's magnetosphere. The Cassini spacecraft's in situ observations reveal that energetic electrons are depleted in the moon's vicinity. The absence of a substantial exosphere implies that Rhea's magnetospheric interaction region, rather than being exclusively induced by sputtered gas and its products, likely contains solid material that can absorb magnetospheric particles. Combined observations from several instruments suggest that this material is in the form of grains and boulders up to several decimetres in size and orbits Rhea as an equatorial debris disk. Within this disk may reside denser, discrete rings or arcs of material.
2 Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK.
3 Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
4 Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
5 Southwest Research Institute, Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.
6 Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Paul Sabatier University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, Toulouse, 31400 France.
7 Astronomical Institute of St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskii pr. 28, Staryi Peterhof, St. Petersburg, 198504, Russia.
8 The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, UK.
9 Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, 751 21 Uppsala, Sweden.
10 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
11 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.
12 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia, Post Office Box 400745, 116 Engineer's Way, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
13 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 6863 Slichter Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
14 The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
15 Academy of Athens, Soranou Efesiou 4, Athens 115 27, Greece.
16 Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie, Universität zu Köln, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Köln, Germany.
17 AG Nichtlineare Dynamik, Universität Potsdam, Postfach 601553, 14469 Potsdam, Germany.
18 Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
19 Los Alamos National Laboratory, LosAlamos, NM 87545, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ghj{at}mssl.ucl.ac.uk
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