Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake

Details Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6604l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #66.04

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Recent observations have revealed a new high-velocity sodium emission feature near Io's wake, in addition to the two well-known emission features of Io's neutral cloud. Using the SARG spectrograph on the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands, we observed three distinct spectral features lying parallel to Io's orbit. While the "banana cloud” of slow sodium and the fast sodium "jet” or "stream” are well understood, the Jupiter-ward orientation and high velocity (>10 km/s) of this new feature make it quite unexpected. Unlike the slow sodium of the banana cloud, the velocity of this new feature suggests a source process due to electrodynamic interactions, similar to Io's jet or stream. However, the Jupiter-ward direction of this new feature suggests it does not have the same source mechanism as the jet, which ejects opposite Jupiter. In our pre- and post-eclipse observations we found that this new feature disappears after eclipse, suggesting that the source mechanism is inhibited by atmospheric collapse or a change in photoionization. We will present characterization of this new feature including extent, velocity distribution, and source rate. Modeling the velocity distribution and comparing with observed velocity distributions allow us to pinpoint the source mechanism. We will also discuss the most likely source processes based on the observations. This work has been supported by NSF's Planetary Astronomy Program, INAF/TNG, Dipartimento di Astronomia and CISAS, Università di Padova, through a contract by the Italian Space Agency ASI.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Analysis of the New Sodium Emission Feature Discovered in Io's Wake will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1334318