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INSTITUTET FÖR RYMDFYSIK UPPSALA
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Swedish Institute of Space Physics (59°50.272′N, 17°38.786′E)
Student project at IRF Uppsala

Project work / Examensarbete (20 p)

The magnetospheric boundary at Titan

Student: Malin Westerberg
Supervisor: Ronan Modolo
Period: Autumn 2006 -- spring 2007

Background

Titan, one of the primary scientific goals of the Cassini-Huygens mission, possesses a  dense atmosphere which interacts directly with the magnetospheric plasma of Saturn.  The neutral environment of Titan is partially ionised by solar photons, electrons impact and charge exchange reactions between the corotating ions and the neutral species. 

Cassini observations have revealed a dynamic and complex structure of the ionised environment in the vicinity of Titan. The interaction, between the corotating plasma and the upper atmosphere of Titan, is proposed to be investigated by analyzing the observations of the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) Langmuir Probe (LP) sensor.

Project

Use the Langmuir Probe analysis tools to calibrate the observations for 2 or 3 flybys of Titan. The project will focus on flybys on the ram-side, with almost the same encounter geometry but for different orbital position. The orbital position of Titan affects the relative location of the ionisation source such as the photoionisation and the electron impact ionisation. The goal of this study is to understand how the location and the structure of the induced magnetospheric boundary is affected by this parameter.



https://space.irfu.se/exjobb/2006_malin_westerberg/index.html
last modified on Tuesday, 25-Sep-2007 11:13:15 CEST