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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • Cassini-Huygens
  • Titan
  • conductivity

Index Terms

  • Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: General or miscellaneous
  • Ionosphere: Planetary ionospheres
Abstract
Cited By
 

Abstract

Structure of Titan's low altitude ionized layer from the Relaxation Probe onboard HUYGENS

J. J. López-Moreno

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain

G. J. Molina-Cuberos

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain

Electromagnetismo, Facultad de Químicas, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain

M. Hamelin

CETP, IPSL, Saint Maur, France

R. Grard

RSSD, ESTEC, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands

F. Simões

CETP, IPSL, Saint Maur, France

R. Godard

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

K. Schwingenschuh

Space Research Institute, OEAW, Graz, Austria

C. Béghin

LPCE, CNRS, Orléans, France

J. J. Berthelier

CETP, IPSL, Saint Maur, France

V. J. G. Brown

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain

P. Falkner

RSSD, ESTEC, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands

F. Ferri

CISAS “G. Colombo”, Universitá di Padova, Padua, Italy

M. Fulchignoni

LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France

I. Jernej

Space Research Institute, OEAW, Graz, Austria

J. M. Jerónimo

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain

R. Rodrigo

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain

R. Trautner

RSSD, ESTEC, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Some of the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan have been unveiled by the Huygens Probe. The Permitivity Wave and Altimetry system detected a hidden ionosphere much below the main ionosphere, that lies between 600 and 2000 km. Theoretical models predicted a low altitude ionosphere produced by cosmic rays that, contrary to magnetospheric particles and UV photons, are able to penetrate down in the atmosphere. Two sensors: Mutual Impedance (MI) and Relaxation Probe (RP) measured the conductivity of the ionosphere by two different methods and were able to discriminate the two branches of electrical conductivity due to the positive and negative charges. The measurements were made from 140 to 40 km and show a maximum of charge densities ≈2 × 109 m−3 positive ions and ≈450 × 106 m−3 electrons at around 65 km. Here we present the altitude distribution of the concentration of positive ions and electrons obtained from the RP and MI sensors.

Received 14 July 2008; accepted 13 October 2008; published 21 November 2008.

Citation: López-Moreno, J. J., et al. (2008), Structure of Titan's low altitude ionized layer from the Relaxation Probe onboard HUYGENS, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L22104, doi:10.1029/2008GL035338.

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