New Insights into Variations in Enceladus Plume Particle Launch Velocities from Cassini-VIMS Spectral Data

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Abstract Enceladus’s plume consists mainly of a mixture of water vapor and solid ice particles that may originate from a subsurface ocean. The physical processes underlying Enceladus’s plume particle dynamics are still being debated, and quantifying the particles’ size distribution and launch velocities can help constrain these processes. Cassini’s Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer observed the Enceladus plume over a wavelength range of 0.9–5.0 μm for a significant fraction of Enceladus’s orbital period on three dates in the summer of 2017. We find that the relative brightness of the plume on these different dates varies with wavelength, implying that the particle size distribution in the plume changes over time. These observations also enable us to study how the particles’ launch velocities vary with time and observed wavelength. We find that the typical launch velocity of particles remains between 140 and 148 m s−1 at wavelengths between 1.2 and 3.7 μm. This may not be consistent with prior models where particles are only accelerated by interactions with the vent walls and gas and could imply that mutual particle collisions close to the vent are more important than previously recognized.

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