Cassini detection of Enceladus' cold water-group plume ionosphere

This study reports direct detection by the Cassini plasma spectrometer of freshly-produced water-group ions (O+, OH+, H2O+, H3O+) and heavier water dimer ions (HxO(2))(+) very close to Enceladus where the plasma begins to emerge from the plume. The data were obtained during two close ( 52 and 25 km) flybys of Enceladus in 2008 and are similar to ion data in cometary comas. The ions are observed in detectors looking in the Cassini ram direction exhibiting energies consistent with the Cassini speed, indicative of a nearly stagnant plasma flow in the plume. North of Enceladus the plasma slowing commences about 4 to 6 Enceladus radii away, while south of Enceladus signatures of the plasma interaction with the plume are detected 22 Enceladus radii away. Citation: Tokar, R. L., R. E. Johnson, M. F. Thomsen, R. J. Wilson, D. T. Young, F. J. Crary, A. J. Coates, G. H. Jones, and C. S. Paty ( 2009), Cassini detection of Enceladus' cold water-group plume ionosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L13203, doi:10.1029/2009GL038923

Modeling the Enceladus plume--plasma interaction

We investigate the chemical interaction between Saturn's corotating plasma and Enceladus' volcanic plumes. We evolve plasma as it passes through a prescribed H2O plume using a physical chemistry model adapted for water-group reactions. The flow field is assumed to be that of a plasma around an electrically-conducting obstacle centered on Enceladus and aligned with Saturn's magnetic field, consistent with Cassini magnetometer data. We explore the effects on the physical chemistry due to: (1) a small population of hot electrons; (2) a plasma flow decelerated in response to the pickup of fresh ions; (3) the source rate of neutral H2O. The model confirms that charge exchange dominates the local chemistry and that H3O+ dominates the water-group composition downstream of the Enceladus plumes. We also find that the amount of fresh pickup ions depends heavily on both the neutral source strength and on the presence of a persistent population of hot electrons.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 2 figure

The Fall of a Giant. Chemical evolution of Enceladus, alias the Gaia Sausage

We present the first chemical evolution model for Enceladus, alias the Gaia Sausage, to investigate the star formation history of one of the most massive satellites accreted by the Milky Way during a major merger event. Our best chemical evolution model for Enceladus nicely fits the observed stellar [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] chemical abundance trends, and reproduces the observed stellar metallicity distribution function, by assuming low star formation efficiency, fast infall time scale, and mild outflow intensity. We predict a median age for Enceladus stars $12.33^{+0.92}_{-1.36}$ Gyr, and - at the time of the merger with our Galaxy ($\approx10$ Gyr ago from Helmi et al.) - we predict for Enceladus a total stellar mass $M_{\star} \approx 5 \times 10^{9}\,\text{M}_{\odot}$. By looking at the predictions of our best model, we discuss that merger events between the Galaxy and systems like Enceladus may have inhibited the gas accretion onto the Galaxy disc at high redshifts, heating up the gas in the halo. This scenario could explain the extended period of quenching in the star formation activity of our Galaxy about 10 Gyr ago, which is predicted by Milky Way chemical evolution models, in order to reproduce the observed bimodality in [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] between thick- and thin-disc stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

The roles of charge exchange and dissociation in spreading Saturn's neutral clouds

Neutrals sourced directly from Enceladus's plumes are initially confined to a dense neutral torus in Enceladus's orbit around Saturn. This neutral torus is redistributed by charge exchange, impact/photodissociation, and neutral-neutral collisions to produce Saturn's neutral clouds. Here we consider the former processes in greater detail than in previous studies. In the case of dissociation, models have assumed that OH is produced with a single speed of 1 km/s, whereas laboratory measurements suggest a range of speeds between 1 and 1.6 km/s. We show that the high-speed case increases dissociation's range of influence from 9 to 15 Rs. For charge exchange, we present a new modeling approach, where the ions are followed within a neutral background, whereas neutral cloud models are conventionally constructed from the neutrals' point of view. This approach allows us to comment on the significance of the ions' gyrophase at the moment charge exchange occurs. Accounting for gyrophase: (1) has no consequence on the H2O cloud; (2) doubles the local density of OH at the orbit of Enceladus; and (3) decreases the oxygen densities at Enceladus's orbit by less than 10%. Finally, we consider velocity-dependent, as well as species-dependent cross sections and find that the oxygen cloud produced from charge exchange is spread out more than H2O, whereas the OH cloud is the most confined.Comment: Accepted to the Journal of Geophysical Research, 49 pages, 10 figure

Dynamics of Enceladus and Dione inside the 2:1 Mean-Motion Resonance under Tidal Dissipation

In a previous work (Callegari and Yokoyama 2007, Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astr. vol. 98), the main features of the motion of the pair Enceladus-Dione were analyzed in the frozen regime, i.e., without considering the tidal evolution. Here, the results of a great deal of numerical simulations of a pair of satellites similar to Enceladus and Dione crossing the 2:1 mean-motion resonance are shown. The resonance crossing is modeled with a linear tidal theory, considering a two-degrees-of-freedom model written in the framework of the general three-body planar problem. The main regimes of motion of the system during the passage through resonance are studied in detail. We discuss our results comparing them with classical scenarios of tidal evolution of the system. We show new scenarios of evolution of the Enceladus-Dione system through resonance not shown in previous approaches of the problem.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures. Accepted in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronom

The Role of Ejecta in the Small Crater Populations on the Mid-Sized Saturnian Satellites

We find evidence that crater ejecta play an important role in the small crater populations on the Saturnian satellites, and more broadly, on cratered surfaces throughout the Solar System. We measure crater populations in Cassini images of Enceladus, Rhea, and Mimas, focusing on image data with scales less than 500 m/pixel. We use recent updates to crater scaling laws and their constants to estimate the amount of mass ejected in three different velocity ranges: (i) greater than escape velocity, (ii) less than escape velocity and faster than the minimum velocity required to make a secondary crater (v_min), and (iii) velocities less than v_min. Although the vast majority of mass on each satellite is ejected at speeds less than v_min, our calculations demonstrate that the differences in mass available in the other two categories should lead to observable differences in the small crater populations; the predictions are borne out by the measurements we have made to date. Rhea, Tethys, and Dione have sufficient surface gravities to retain ejecta moving fast enough to make secondary crater populations. The smaller satellites, such as Enceladus but especially Mimas, are expected to have little or no traditional secondary populations because their escape velocities are near the threshold velocity necessary to make a secondary crater. Our work clarifies why the Galilean satellites have extensive secondary crater populations relative to the Saturnian satellites. The presence, extent, and sizes of sesquinary craters (craters formed by ejecta that escape into temporary orbits around Saturn before re-impacting the surface) is not yet well understood. Finally, our work provides further evidence for a "shallow" size-frequency distribution (slope index of ~2 for a differential power-law) for comets a few km diameter and smaller. [slightly abbreviated]Comment: Submitted to Icarus. 77 double-spaced pages, including 25 figures and 5 table

Consequences of large impacts on Enceladus' core shape

International audienceThe intense activity on Enceladus suggests a differentiated interior consisting of a rocky core, an internal ocean and an icy mantle. However, topography and gravity data suggests large heterogeneity in the interior, possibly including significant core topography. In the present study, we investigated the consequences of collisions with large impactors on the core shape. We performed impact simulations using the code iSALE2D considering large differentiated impactors with radius ranging between 25 and 100 km and impact velocities ranging between 0.24 and 2.4 km/s. Our simulations showed that the main controlling parameters for the post-impact shape of Enceladus’ rock core are the impactor radius and velocity and to a lesser extent the presence of an internal water ocean and the porosity and strength of the rock core. For low energy impacts, the impactors do not pass completely through the icy mantle. Subsequent sinking and spreading of the impactor rock core lead to a positive core topographic anomaly. For moderately energetic impacts, the impactors completely penetrate through the icy mantle, inducing a negative core topography surrounded by a positive anomaly of smaller amplitude. The depth and lateral extent of the excavated area is mostly determined by the impactor radius and velocity. For highly energetic impacts, the rocky core is strongly deformed, and the full body is likely to be disrupted. Explaining the long-wavelength irregular shape of Enceladus’ core by impacts would imply multiple low velocity (<2.4 km/s) collisions with deca-kilometric differentiated impactors, which is possible only after the LHB period

Ground-based detection of a cloud of methanol from Enceladus: When is a biomarker not a biomarker?

Saturn's moon Enceladus has vents emerging from a sub-surface ocean, offering unique probes into the liquid environment. These vents drain into the larger neutral torus in orbit around Saturn. We present a methanol (CH3OH) detection observed with IRAM 30-m from 2008 along the line-of-sight through Saturn's E-ring. Additionally, we also present supporting observations from the Herschel public archive of water (ortho-H2O; 1669.9 GHz) from 2012 at a similar elongation and line-of-sight. The CH3OH 5(1,1)-4(1,1) transition was detected at 5.9 sigma confidence. The line has 0.43 km/s width and is offset by +8.1 km/s in the moon's reference frame. Radiative transfer models allow for gas cloud dimensions from 1750 km up to the telescope beam diameter ~73000 km. Taking into account the CH3OH lifetime against solar photodissociation and the redshifted line velocity, there are two possible explanations for the CH3OH emission: methanol is primarily a secondary product of chemical interactions within the neutral torus that (1) spreads outward throughout the E-ring or (2) originates from a compact, confined gas cloud lagging Enceladus by several km/s. We find either scenario to be consistent with significant redshifted H2O emission (4 sigma) measured from the Herschel public archive. The measured CH3OH:H2O abundance (> 0.5 per cent) significantly exceeds the observed abundance in the direct vicinity of the vents (~0.01 per cent), suggesting CH3OH is likely chemically processed within the gas cloud with methane (CH4) as its parent species.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the International Journal of Astrobiology (IJA