[Baps] BU Seminar Today with Marina Galand

[Paul Withers]

Apologies for the late notice.

By the way, there are several other planetary-related seminars at BU 
this semester (http://www.bu.edu/dbin/csp/?q=CSP_sked). Plus a space law 
seminar and a "dangers of astronaut insanity" seminar.

March 5  	Katia Matcheva
University of Florida 	Gravity Waves in Planetary Atmospheres

March 19 	Rosanna Sattler
Posternak Blankstein & Lund 	Space Law

March 26 	Margaret Campbell-Brown
University of Western Ontario 	Meteors: Watch Out!

April 9 	Nick Kanas
University of California, San Francisco 	Psychological and Psychiatric 
Issues in Space
	
April 23 	Ingo Mueller-Wodarg
Imperial College 	Energy Crisis at Saturn: The Role of 
Thermosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

Paul

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Csp_seminar] CSP Seminar Today with Marina Galand
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:43:55 -0500 (EST)
From: Erin T. Buck <etbuck at bu.edu>
To: csp_seminar at bu-ast.bu.edu

Speaker:  Marina Galand

Affiliation:  Imperial College London, U.K.
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Time:  3:30 cookies, 4:00 talk
Place: 725 Commonwealth Ave. Room 502


Title:  The Weird Ionosphere of Titan Revealed by Cassini


Abstract:  Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only moon in the
Solar System to hold a permanent and substantial atmosphere. With nitrogen
as the dominant constituent, the atmosphere of Titan has similarities with
the terrestrial atmosphere. Since 2004, the Cassini spacecraft in orbit
around Saturn, is regularly flying through the upper atmosphere of Titan
and has from around 20 close flybys sent us a wealth of in situ
observations from the thermospheric (neutral) and ionospheric (ionized)
gas. These flybys have revealed a more complex, and thus more exciting,
atmosphere than anticipated. With more than 50 ion species detected so
far, Titan has the most chemically complex ionosphere known to us in the
Solar System. The recent discovery of heavy (m/z>100) positive and
negative ions has also highlighted the unexpected role of the upper
atmosphere of Titan, being the source of aerosols which have been observed
at lower altitudes and which are key to prebiotic chemistry. Using a
comprehensive kinetic and fluid model as binding element of Cassini
dataset, I will identify the processes creating the dayside ionosphere and
assess its energy budget. I will also present a recent analysis of ion
composition measurements which sheds a new light on the origin of the
nightside ionosphere of Titan. Surprise!