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Recent Results from Titan’s Ionosphere

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Abstract

Titan has the most significant atmosphere of any moon in the solar system, with a pressure at the surface larger than the Earth’s. It also has a significant ionosphere, which is usually immersed in Saturn’s magnetosphere. Occasionally it exits into Saturn’s magnetosheath. In this paper we review several recent advances in our understanding of Titan’s ionosphere, and present some comparisons with the other unmagnetized objects Mars and Venus. We present aspects of the ionospheric structure, chemistry, electrodynamic coupling and transport processes. We also review observations of ionospheric photoelectrons at Titan, Mars and Venus. Where appropriate, we mention the effects on ionospheric escape.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Space and Climate Physics, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT, UK

    A. J. Coates & A. Wellbrock

  2. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, 751 21, Uppsala, Sweden

    J.-E. Wahlund, K. Ågren & N. Edberg

  3. Department of Astronomy & Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    J. Cui

  4. Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, KFKI-RMKI, Budapest, Hungary

    K. Szego

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  1. A. J. Coates
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Coates, A.J., Wahlund, JE., Ågren, K. et al. Recent Results from Titan’s Ionosphere. Space Sci Rev 162, 85–111 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-011-9826-4

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