Abstract
Abstract. A unique set of images of Saturn's northern polar UV aurora was obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011 and 2012 at times when the Cassini spacecraft was located in the solar wind just upstream of Saturn's bow shock. This rare situation provides an opportunity to use the Kronian paraboloid magnetic field model to examine source locations of the bright auroral features by mapping them along field lines into the magnetosphere, taking account of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) measured near simultaneously by Cassini. It is found that the persistent dawn arc maps to closed field lines in the dawn to noon sector, with an equatorward edge generally located in the inner part of the ring current, typically at ~ 7 Saturn radii (RS) near dawn, and a poleward edge that maps variously between the centre of the ring current and beyond its outer edge at ~ 15 RS, depending on the latitudinal width of the arc. This location, together with a lack of response in properties to the concurrent IMF, suggests a principal connection with ring-current and nightside processes. The higher-latitude patchy auroras observed intermittently near to noon and at later local times extending towards dusk are instead found to straddle the model open–closed field boundary, thus mapping along field lines to the dayside outer magnetosphere and magnetopause. These emissions, which occur preferentially for northward IMF directions, are thus likely associated with reconnection and open-flux production at the magnetopause. One image for southward IMF also exhibits a prominent patch of very high latitude emissions extending poleward of patchy dawn arc emissions in the pre-noon sector. This is found to lie centrally within the region of open model field lines, suggesting an origin in the current system associated with lobe reconnection, similar to that observed in the terrestrial magnetosphere for northward IMF.
Highlights
While the principal mechanism driving the auroras at Earth is the interaction with the solar wind, for Jupiter and Saturn the most significant roles are played by internal processes, the internal sources of plasma from moons that orbit within the magnetosphere and rapid planetary rotation
In this paper we have examined northern dayside UV auroral features observed during eight Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging intervals during the 2011 and 2012 Saturn campaigns, when the Cassini spacecraft was located in the solar wind just upstream from the bow shock
In a parallel study of these images, Meredith et al (2014) discussed the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) dependence of the auroral morphology, finding no strong response of the dawn arc emissions, but suggesting that the structured higher-latitude emissions observed for northward IMF in the noon–dusk sector are associated with reconnection-related dynamics and open-flux production at the dayside magnetopause
Summary
While the principal mechanism driving the auroras at Earth is the interaction with the solar wind, for Jupiter and Saturn the most significant roles are played by internal processes, the internal sources of plasma from moons that orbit within the magnetosphere and rapid planetary rotation (see, e.g. the reviews by Krupp et al, 2004 and Mitchell et al, 2009a, and references therein). Structured dayside auroral features observed in the post-noon sector have been interpreted as the signatures of time-dependent reconnection and openflux production at the dayside magnetopause, similar to “flux transfer events” at Earth (Radioti et al, 2011, 2013; Badman et al, 2013; Meredith et al, 2014). In a parallel study of these images, Meredith et al (2014) found no clear IMF response in the dawn emissions, while patchy auroras observed at higher latitudes in the noon to dusk sector were found to occur for northward but not for southward IMF, suggesting a connection with reconnection-related processes at the magnetopause as discussed previously by Radioti et al (2011, 2013) and Badman et al (2013). Our results are found to be compatible with the physical suggestions of Meredith et al (2014)
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