No meridional plasma flow in the heliosheath transition region.

Over a two-year period, Voyager 1 observed a gradual slowing-down of radial plasma flow in the heliosheath to near-zero velocity after April 2010 at a distance of 113.5 astronomical units from the Sun (1 astronomical unit equals 1.5 × 10(8) kilometres). Voyager 1 was then about 20 astronomical units beyond the shock that terminates the free expansion of the solar wind and was immersed in the heated non-thermal plasma region called the heliosheath. The expectation from contemporary simulations was that the heliosheath plasma would be deflected from radial flow to meridional flow (in solar heliospheric coordinates), which at Voyager 1 would lie mainly on the (locally spherical) surface called the heliopause. This surface is supposed to separate the heliosheath plasma, which is of solar origin, from the interstellar plasma, which is of local Galactic origin. In 2011, the Voyager project began occasional temporary re-orientations of the spacecraft (totalling about 10-25 hours every 2 months) to re-align the Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument on board Voyager 1 so that it could measure meridional flow. Here we report that, contrary to expectations, these observations yielded a meridional flow velocity of +3 ± 11 km s(-1), that is, one consistent with zero within statistical uncertainties.

Zero outward flow velocity for plasma in a heliosheath transition layer.

Voyager 1 has been in the reservoir of energetic ions and electrons that constitutes the heliosheath since it crossed the solar wind termination shock on 16 December 2004 at a distance from the Sun of 94 astronomical units (1 AU = 1.5 × 10(8) km). It is now ∼22 AU past the termination shock crossing. The bulk velocity of the plasma in the radial-transverse plane has been determined using measurements of the anisotropy of the convected energetic ion distribution. Here we report that the radial component of the velocity has been decreasing almost linearly over the past three years, from ∼70 km s(-1) to ∼0 km s(-1), where it has remained for the past eight months. It now seems that Voyager 1 has entered a finite transition layer of zero-radial-velocity plasma flow, indicating that the spacecraft may be close to the heliopause, the border between the heliosheath and the interstellar plasma. The existence of a flow transition layer in the heliosheath contradicts current predictions--generally assumed by conceptual models--of a sharp discontinuity at the heliopause.

Titan's exosphere and its interaction with Saturn's magnetosphere.

Titan's nitrogen-rich atmosphere is directly bombarded by energetic ions, due to its lack of a significant intrinsic magnetic field. Singly charged energetic ions from Saturn's magnetosphere undergo charge-exchange collisions with neutral atoms in Titan's upper atmosphere, or exosphere, being transformed into energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The ion and neutral camera, one of the three sensors that comprise the magnetosphere imaging instrument (MIMI) on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan, images these ENAs like photons, and measures their fluxes and energies. These remote-sensing measurements, combined with the in situ measurements performed in the upper thermosphere and in the exosphere by the ion and neutral mass spectrometer instrument, provide a powerful diagnostic of Titan's exosphere and its interaction with the Kronian magnetosphere. These observations are analysed and some of the exospheric features they reveal are modelled.

A nebula of gases from Io surrounding Jupiter.

Several planetary missions have reported the presence of substantial numbers of energetic ions and electrons surrounding Jupiter; relativistic electrons are observable up to several astronomical units (au) from the planet. A population of energetic (>30[?]keV) neutral particles also has been reported, but the instrumentation was not able to determine the mass or charge state of the particles, which were subsequently labelled energetic neutral atoms. Although images showing the presence of the trace element sodium were obtained, the source and identity of the neutral atoms---and their overall significance relative to the loss of charged particles from Jupiter's magnetosphere---were unknown. Here we report the discovery by the Cassini spacecraft of a fast (>103[?]km[?]s-1) and hot magnetospheric neutral wind extending more than 0.5[?]au from Jupiter, and the presence of energetic neutral atoms (both hot and cold) that have been accelerated by the electric field in the solar wind. We suggest that these atoms originate in volcanic gases from Io, undergo significant evolution through various electromagnetic interactions, escape Jupiter's magnetosphere and then populate the environment around the planet. Thus a 'nebula' is created that extends outwards over hundreds of jovian radii.