TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermal plasma composition in Saturn's magnetosphere
AU - Ip, W. H.
N1 - Funding Information:
I thank D. E. Shemansky, R. E. Johnson, A. Kopp and J. D. Richardson for informative discussions, and Margit Steinmetz, F. Both and Apple Wang for assistance in preparing the manuscript. This work was supported in part by the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) and in part by the National Science Council Grant No. 88Afa0700296.
PY - 2000/6/1
Y1 - 2000/6/1
N2 - A brief description is given to the composition of the thermal ions in the Saturnian magnetosphere with the neutral gas cloud as the main source. It is predicted that, if the neutral cloud density peaks near Enceladus' orbit with a total number density of the water-group neutrals reaching 104 cm-3, the molecular ions like OH+ and H2O+ could be as abundant as O+ throughout the Saturnian magnetosphere. At the same time, a significant amount of H3O+ and O+2 ions can be found in the region with L < 5. The composition of the Saturnian plasma could therefore be far more complex than previously thought.
AB - A brief description is given to the composition of the thermal ions in the Saturnian magnetosphere with the neutral gas cloud as the main source. It is predicted that, if the neutral cloud density peaks near Enceladus' orbit with a total number density of the water-group neutrals reaching 104 cm-3, the molecular ions like OH+ and H2O+ could be as abundant as O+ throughout the Saturnian magnetosphere. At the same time, a significant amount of H3O+ and O+2 ions can be found in the region with L < 5. The composition of the Saturnian plasma could therefore be far more complex than previously thought.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0004891920&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/s0032-0633(00)00036-2
DO - 10.1016/s0032-0633(00)00036-2
M3 - 期刊論文
AN - SCOPUS:0004891920
SN - 0032-0633
VL - 48
SP - 775
EP - 783
JO - Planetary and Space Science
JF - Planetary and Space Science
IS - 7-8
ER -