Technical Digest

Space Science
Volume 26, Number 2 (2005)

Saturn’s moon, Titan, is embedded in the violent ≈150-km/s flow of plasma orbiting around Saturn. The Ion and Neutral Camera (INCA) onboard the Cassini spacecraft relies on a new technique of imaging space plasma using energetic neutral atoms. INCA was built by the Space Physics Group at APL and obtained this first-ever image (red glow) of the interaction between the plasma flow and Titan’s upper atmosphere. The image of Titan is taken in UV and IR wavelengths and shows surface features and atmospheric methane concentration (green to red) as well as the layers of haze of hydrocarbons (blue) extending to high altitudes. (Image from NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.) Solar research at APL aims to understand the physics that govern solar activity and its effects on solar system bodies. The back-cover image shows two eruptive solar prominences captured by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO). In a matter of hours, these two prominences erupted away from the Sun, resulting in two coronal mass ejections.

Scientific Space Research at APL: Guest Editors’ Introduction R. W. McEntire and C-I. Meng

Ocean Wind Field Mapping from Synthetic Aperture Radar and Its Application to Research and Applied Problems F. M. Monaldo, D. R. Thompson, N. S. Winstead, W. G. Pichel, P. Clemente-Colón, and M. B. Christiansen

Initial Results of Data Collected by the APL D2P Radar Altimeter Over Land and Sea Ice C. J. Leuschen and R. K. Raney

Space Weather Forecasting in the Exploration Era D. M. Rust, M. K. Georgoulis, P. N. Bernasconi, and B. J. LaBonte

Science-Driven Innovation: Developing the Right Tools for Solar Research P. N. Bernasconi, D. M. Rust, B. J. LaBonte, and M. K. Georgoulis

ENA Imaging: Seeing the Invisible P. C. Brandt, D. G. Mitchell, E. C. Roelof, S. M. Krimigis, C. P. Paranicas, B. H. Mauk, J. Sauer, and R. DeMajistre

Recent Research Highlights from Planetary Magnetospheres and the Heliosphere C. P. Paranicas, R. B. Decker, D. J. Williams, D. G. Mitchell, P. C. Brandt, and B. H. Mauk

Dynamics in Planetary Atmospheric Physics: Comparative Studies of Equatorial Superrotation for Venus, Titan, and Earth X. Zhu

Ice in the Solar System L. M. Prockter

MISCELLANEA Publications, Conferences with Proceedings, Presentations, and Colloquia Compiled by L. M. Mercer