Overview
- A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics reports an extended Alfvén wing system spanning more than 504,000 km, over 2,000 times Enceladus’s radius.
- The primary wave is repeatedly reflected between Saturn’s ionosphere and the plasma torus around Enceladus, creating a lattice of crisscrossing structures through the magnetosphere.
- Fine-scale turbulence filaments the waves, enabling energy transport to auroral regions associated with the moon.
- Analysis of Cassini’s 13-year archive from four instruments identified 36 distinct Alfvén-wave connections, including during non-flyby trajectories far from the moon.
- Researchers describe Enceladus as a planetary-scale Alfvén wave generator and note the findings guide future Enceladus missions, including ESA plans under study for the 2040s.