The Interaction Between io and the Plasma Torus: Direct Measurement of the Mass Loading Rate CYCLE4MEDIUM

Details The Interaction Between io and the Plasma Torus: Direct Measurement of the Mass Loading Rate CYCLE4MEDIUM The Interaction Between io and the Plasma Torus: Direct Measurement of the Mass Loading Rate CYCLE4MEDIUM

Jul 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994hst..prop.5466d&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #5466

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #5466 Solar System Satellites

Scientific paper

We propose to make the first direct measurement of the slow-down of the Io plasma torus in the immediate vicinity of Io. The slow-down is a direct measure of the rate of ionization of neutral material from Io that will provide critical information about the origin and maintenance of the torus, about the details of the interaction between the torus and the satellite, and about the nature and coverage of the Io atmosphere. Current understanding in these areas is extremely tenuous due to the lack of concrete observations. We will unambiguously determine the slow-down at Io by measuring the rotation velocity of the torus from the Doppler shift of OII 2471 A emission observed with Io in the aperture as the torus plane passes through the satellite. This method has been used in our intensive ground-based study to measure the slow-down, and thus the mass loading rate, at almost all points in the torus, however no visible wavelength measurements are possible at the crucial point where the torus passes through Io because the satellite is far too bright at these wavelengths to allow detection of the ion emissions. By contrast, in the UV the Io continuum is negligible compared with the torus emissions, and the measurement of the slow-down is comparatively easy. The results coming from this observation will have a large and immediate impact on our knowledge of the Io atmosphere and of the physical mechanisms involved in the torus-Io interaction.

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