P23A-3977:
Simultaneous multi-scale and multi-instrument observations of Saturn’s aurorae during the 2013 observing campaign
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Henrik Melin1,2, Sarah Victoria Badman3, Tom Stallard4, Ulyana Dyudina5, Jonathan D Nichols4, Stanley W H Cowley4, James O'Donoghue6, Wayne Robert Pryor7, Kevin H Baines8, Steve Miller9, Calum J Meredith10, Chihiro Tao11, James Blake4 and Jacques Gustin12, (1)University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1, United Kingdom, (2)Space Environment Technologies, Hawthorne, CA, United States, (3)University of Lancaster, Lancaster, LA1, United Kingdom, (4)University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, (5)Caltech, Pasadena, CA, United States, (6)Boston University, Boston, MA, United States, (7)Central Arizona College, Coolidge, AZ, United States, (8)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (9)University College London, London, United Kingdom, (10)Dept of Physics & Astronomy, Leicester, United Kingdom, (11)IRAP, Toulouse, France, (12)University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Abstract:
During April and May 2013 the Cassini spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck telescope and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility all observed Saturn's aurora as part of the 2013 campaign. We present simultaneous multi-scale analysis of auroral emission at Saturn. There is variability on every spatial and temporal scale analysed, and high spatial resolution observations distinguish variable features with sizes tens of km on the planet. Lower resolution observations reveal broad-scale dynamics, variable over minutes to hours. We also present the first direct comparison of simultaneous infrared, visible, and ultraviolet auroral emissions at Saturn. These emissions are co-located, even though the spatial scale and operational mode of each instrument are very different. The main auroral emissions in the three wavelength bands are co-located, but there are significant differences in morphology outside of this auroral oval. These differences can be used to characterize the physical properties of the polar thermosphere/ionosphere.
