Simultaneous Cassini VIMS and UVIS observations of Saturn's southern aurora

Here, temporally simultaneous and spatially overlapping Cassini VIMS and UVIS observations of Saturn's southern aurora are presented. The pointing is fixed at a constant local time of 04:55, covering latitudes between 64°S and 82°S and longitudes between 127° and 186°. The spatial resolution is high, with 1 mrad covering ˜300 km, such that only a small part of the pre-dawn aurora is observed. Ultraviolet auroral H and H2 emissions from UVIS are compared to infrared H+3 emission from VIMS. The auroral emission is structured into three arcs - H, H2 and H+3 are morphologically identical in the bright main auroral oval (˜73°S), but there is an equatorward arc that is seen predominantly in H (˜70°S), and a poleward arc (˜74°S) that is seen mainly in H2 and H+3 . These observations indicate that, for the main auroral oval, the UV emission is a good proxy for the infrared H+3 morphology (and vice versa), but for emission either poleward or equatorward this is no longer true. Hence, given the highly dynamic nature of the aurora of Saturn, simultaneous UV/IR observations are crucial for completing the picture of how the atmosphere interacts with the magnetosphere.