Surface charging of Saturn's plasma absorbing moons: theoretical estimations and comparisons with Cassini observations
Surface charging of Saturn's plasma absorbing moons: theoretical estimations and comparisons with Cassini observations
复制标题
土星等离子体吸收卫星的表面充电:理论估计以及与卡西尼号观测结果的比较
DOI:
10.1029/2010ja015525
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发表时间:
2010
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
Greg Jones
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
E. Roussos;N. Krupp;H. Krüger;Greg Jones
Recent results from the study of the interaction of Earth's moon with the solar wind have highlighted lunar surface charging as an important physical process not only for the local interaction of the surface and the impinging plasma but also for charged dust ejection and transport. Excluding Earth's moon, however, such studies have been limited to very few solar system bodies. Here we assess the importance of surface charging for the Saturnian plasma-absorbing moons. In this initial study, we focus on the various moons' trailing hemispheres and their variable charging patterns as a function of their magnetospheric local time. With only a few exceptions, our results indicate negative potentials for all moons, with the most extreme values predicted for Rhea. When the leading hemisphere is partially sunlit, the surface potential profile can be quite complex with many different transition regions. We also find that electrostatic acceleration of dust is at least equally as (if not more) important as it is for Earth's moon for the submicron grains, but it is probably not sufficient to explain the detection of the larger micron-sized grains in the vicinity of the large moons of the outer planets. Regarding Saturn's asteroid-sized moons, we predict that electrostatic forces can accelerate grains above the escape velocity and populate the Saturnian system and/or contribute to dust transport across those moons' surfaces. On the basis of these results, we also propose several methods by which Cassini's instruments could be used to directly observe the effects of surface charging.
影响因子:
5.2
作者:
S. Simon;J. Saur;F.M. Neubauer;U. Motschmann;M.K. Dougherty
通讯作者:
M.K. Dougherty
影响因子:
3.2
作者:
Hedman M
通讯作者:
Hedman M