Jan 11, 2017
(ESA) Â SATURN BOWSHOCK
The international Cassini spacecraft exploring the magnetic environment of Saturn. The image is not to scale. Saturnâs magnetosphere is depicted in grey, while the complex bow shock region â the shock wave in the solar wind that surrounds the magnetosphere â is shown in blue.
While crossing the bow shock on 3 February 2007, Cassini recorded a particularly strong shock (an AlfvÃĐn Mach number of approximately 100) under a âquasi-parallelâ magnetic field configuration, during which significant particle acceleration was detected for the first time. The findings provide insight into particle acceleration at the shocks surrounding the remnants of supernova explosions.
