How can Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, influence its much larger parent planet? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the electrodynamic interaction between Enceladus and Saturn. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand planet-moon interaction and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers data obtained from NASA’s now-retired Cassini spacecraft that explored electromagnetic interactions occurring between Enceladus and Saturn. The goal of the study was to ascertain how much Enceladus indirectly interacts with Saturn and the causes behind this interaction. To accomplish this, the researchers explored what are known as “Alfvén wings”, which is magnetized plasma that occurs between two objects that each produce electrical currents.
In the case of Enceladus, its water molecules that are frequently ejected from its south pole become charged when they interact with radiation. In this case, Saturn’s magnetic field. In the end, the researchers found that Enceladus’ influence extends to more than 504,000 km (313,000 miles), or greater than 2,000 times its radius.
Credit: Design & Animation: Fabrice Etifier - École Polytechnique
“This is the first time such an extensive electromagnetic reach by Enceladus has been observed, proving that this small moon acts as a giant planetary-scale Alfvén wave generator,” said Dr. Thomas Chust, who is a researcher at the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP) (CNRS/Polytechnique) in France and a co-author on the study. “This work sets the stage for future studies of other systems, such as the icy moons of Jupiter or exoplanets, by showing that a small moon with an electrically-conducting atmosphere can influence its host over vast distances on the scale of the giant planet itself.”
What new insight into the interaction between Saturn and Enceladus will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, EurekAlert!