Heavy positive ion groups in Titan's ionosphere: Cassini Plasma Spectrometer IBS observations

R P Haythornthwaite , A J Coates (1) , G H Jones , A Wellbrock (2) , J H Waite (3) , Véronique Vuitton (4) , Richard P Hayth

1 Department of Space and Climate Physics [UCL London]
2 MSSL - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
3 Space Science Division [San Antonio]
4 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble

• Heavy (170-310 amu) positive ion composition in Titan's ionosphere analysed for the first time using insitu data • Groups of ions are found and are consistent with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) and Polycyclic Aromatic Nitrogen Heterocyclics (PANH) interpretations • Part of a rich, linked neutral-cation-anion chemistry related to haze formation

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]

R P Haythornthwaite, A J Coates, G H Jones, A Wellbrock, J H Waite, et al.. Heavy positive ion groups in Titan's ionosphere: Cassini Plasma Spectrometer IBS observations. The Planetary Science Journal, 2021, 2 (1), pp.26. ⟨10.3847/PSJ/abd404⟩. ⟨hal-03414623⟩