Ion distributions of 14 amu pickup ions associated with Titan's plasma interaction

Abstract

Titan has an extensive ionosphere consisting of ions of nitrogen and a variety of hydrocarbons that can be picked up by Titan's interaction with the surrounding plasma. Usually Titan is within Saturn's magnetosphere, however, there may be times when Titan exits the magnetosphere and interacts directly with the solar wind. We compare and contrast ion kinetic energy and spatial distributions of 14 amu pickup ions from hybrid simulations of Titan's plasma interaction with both Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind. These results can be compared with ion spectrometer measurements to be made during the upcoming Cassini mission. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.