NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Structure and dynamics of Saturn's outer magnetosphere and boundary regionsIn 1979-1981, the three USA spacecraft Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 discovered and explored the magnetosphere of Saturn to the limited extent possible on flyby trajectories. Considerable variation in the locations of the bow shock (BS) and magnetopause (MP) surfaces were observed in association with variable solar wind conditions and, during the Voyager 2 encounter, possible immersion in Jupiter's distant magnetic tail. The limited number of BS and MP crossings were concentrated near the subsolar region and the dawn terminator, and that fact, together with the temporal variability, makes it difficult to assess the three dimensional shape of the sunward magnetospheric boundary. The combined BS and MP crossing positions from the three spacecraft yield an average BS-to-MP stagnation point distance ratio of 1.29 +/- 0.10. This is near the 1.33 value for the Earth's magnetosphere, implying a similar sunward shape at Saturn. Study of the structure and dynamical behavior of the outer magnetosphere, both in the sunward hemisphere and the magnetotail region using combined plasma and magnetic field data, suggest that Saturn's magnetosphere is more similar to that of Earth than that of Jupiter.
Document ID
19830022075
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Behannon, K. W. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Lepping, R. P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ness, N. F. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
September 4, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1983
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.15:85065
NASA-TM-85065
Accession Number
83N30346
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available