Cassini observations of Saturn's southern polar cusp
C.S. Arridge, J.M. Jasinski, N. Achilleos, Y.V. Bogdanova, E.J. Bunce,, S.W.H. Cowley, A.N. Fazakerley, K.K. Khurana, L. Lamy, J.S. Leisner, E., Roussos, C.T. Russell, P. Zarka, A.J. Coates, M.K. Dougherty, G.H. Jones,, S.M. Krimigis, N. Krupp

TL;DR
This paper reports on Cassini's observations of Saturn's southern polar cusp, revealing plasma entry via reconnection, variable conditions, and oscillating cusp morphology linked to Saturn's magnetospheric periodicities.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed analysis of Saturn's polar cusp using Cassini data, highlighting plasma entry mechanisms and dynamic cusp behavior.
Findings
Evidence of magnetosheath plasma entry via reconnection
Cusp entry occurs under various solar wind conditions
Double cusp morphology linked to magnetospheric oscillations
Abstract
The magnetospheric cusps are important sites of the coupling of a magnetosphere with the solar wind. The combination of both ground- and space-based observations at Earth have enabled considerable progress to be made in understanding the terrestrial cusp and its role in the coupling of the magnetosphere to the solar wind via the polar magnetosphere. Voyager 2 fully explored Neptune's cusp in 1989 but highly inclined orbits of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn present the most recent opportunity to repeatedly studying the polar magnetosphere of a rapidly rotating planet. In this paper we discuss observations made by Cassini during two passes through Saturn's southern polar magnetosphere. Our main findings are that i) Cassini directly encounters the southern polar cusp with evidence for the entry of magnetosheath plasma into the cusp via magnetopause reconnection, ii) magnetopause…
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