Saturn's northern aurorae at solstice from HST observations coordinated with Cassini's Grand Finale |
Auteur | Lamy Laurent |
Institution | LESIA, Observatoire de Paris |
Thème | Theme3 |
| Auteur(s) supplémentaire(s) | R. Prangé, C. Tao, T. Kim, S. Badman, P. Zarka, B. Cecconi, W. Kurth, W. Pryor, E. Bunce, K. Radioti |
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Abstract | Saturn's northern far-ultraviolet aurorae have been regularly observed throughout 2017 with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), during northern summer solstice. These conditions provided the best achievable viewing of the northern kronian auroral region for an Earth-based telescope and a maximal solar illumination, expected to maximize the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The HST observations were coordinated with in situ measurements along the path of the Cassini spacecraft across auroral field lines during the Grand Finale. In this study, we analyze 24 STIS images concurrently with quasi-continuous Cassini/RPWS measurements of Saturn's Kilometric Radiation and solar wind parameters derived from numerical MHD models. |
