Triton: Topside ionosphere and nitrogen escape

Creators: Yung, Y. L.; Lyons, J. R.

Abstract

The principal ion in the ionosphere of Triton is N^+. Energetic electrons of magnetospheric origin are the primary source of ionization, with a smaller contribution due to photoionization. To explain the topside plasma scale height, we postulate that N^+ ions escape from Triton. The loss rate is 3.4 × 10^7 cm^(−2) s^(−1) or 7.9 × 10^(24) ions s^(−1). Dissociative recombination of N^+_2 produces neutral exothermic fragments that can escape from Triton. The rate is estimated to be 8.6 × 10^6 N cm^(−2) s^(−1) or 2.0 × 10^(24) atoms s^(−1). Implications for the magnetosphere of Neptune and Triton's evolution are discussed.

Additional Information

© 1990 by the American Geophysical Union. Paper number 90GL01465. Received: April 20, 1990; revised: June 12, 1990; accepted: June 25, 1990. We thank M. Summers, D. Strobel, J. Richardson, R. Selesnick, and S. Srivastava for communicating to us their results prior to publication, and M. Allen and S. Trajmar for valuable discussions. This work is supported in part by NASA grant NAGW 1509 to the California Institute of Technology, and by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with NASA. Contribution number 4860 from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125.

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