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Survey of low energy plasma electrons in Saturn's magnetosphere: Voyagers 1 and 2The low energy plasma electron environment within Saturn's magnetosphere was surveyed by the Plasma Science Experiment (PLS) during the Voyager encounters with Saturn. Over the full energy range of the PLS instrument (10 eV to 6 keV) the electron distribution functions are clearly non-Maxwellian in character; they are composed of a cold (thermal) component with Maxwellian shape and a hot (suprathermal) non-Maxwellian component. A large scale positive radial gradient in electron temperature is observed, increasing from less than 1 eV in the inner magnetosphere to as high as 800 eV in the outer magnetosphere. Three fundamentally different plasma regimes were identified from the measurements: (1) the hot outer magnetosphere, (2) the extended plasma sheet, and (3) the inner plasma torus.
Document ID
19830026601
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Sittler, E. C., Jr. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ogilvie, K. W. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Scudder, J. D. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
September 4, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1983
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Report/Patent Number
NASA-TM-85086
NAS 1.15:85086
Accession Number
83N34872
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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