VOYAGER 1: Saturn Plasma Electron Parameters

VOYAGER 1 spacecraft measured electron parameters in Saturn's plasma environment. Parameters include total moment density, temperature, and fits for thermal and hot Maxwellian components. The data is from NASA and includes notes on reliability issues.

Use Cases

• Model Saturn's plasma environment based on electron density and temperature parameters
• Analyze electron distribution functions based on Maxwellian component fits
• Validate plasma physics models based on chi-square fit values
• Study spacecraft charging effects based on noted factor-of-2-3 errors in thermal density

Strengths

• Parameters derived from the PLS energy range (10-5950 eV)
• Includes chi-square value for each spectral fit
• Data originates from the NASA Voyager 1 Saturn encounter

Limitations

• Thermal electron density may have factor of 2-3 errors due to spacecraft charge calculation issues
• Data is unreliable inside 6 Saturn radii and in occultation regions
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Voyager 1 Plasma Science (PLS) instrument measurements.

Time Range

During the Voyager 1 Saturn encounter.

Geography

Saturn and its surrounding plasma environment.