Jupiter's nightside airglow and aurora.
Observations of Jupiter's nightside airglow (nightglow) and aurora obtained during the flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft show an unexpected lack of ultraviolet nightglow emissions, in contrast to the case during the Voyager flybys in 1979. The flux and average energy of precipitating electrons generally decrease with increasing local time across the nightside, consistent with a possible source region along the dusk flank of Jupiter's magnetosphere. Visible emissions associated with the interaction of Jupiter and its satellite Io extend to a surprisingly high altitude, indicating localized low-energy electron precipitation. These results indicate that the interaction between Jupiter's upper atmosphere and near-space environment is variable and poorly understood; extensive observations of the day side are no guide to what goes on at night.
Gladstone
G Randall
GR
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. rgladstone@swri.edu
Stern
S Alan
SA
Slater
David C
DC
Versteeg
Maarten
M
Davis
Michael W
MW
Retherford
Kurt D
KD
Young
Leslie A
LA
Steffl
Andrew J
AJ
Throop
Henry
H
Parker
Joel Wm
JW
Weaver
Harold A
HA
Cheng
Andrew F
AF
Orton
Glenn S
GS
Clarke
John T
JT
Nichols
Jonathan D
JD
D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D006859:Hydrogen; D018538:Jupiter; D008280:Magnetics; D018531:Spacecraft
D006838:Hydrocarbons; D006859:Hydrogen