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Scientific paper
Jul 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004hst..prop10322t&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10322
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Hst Proposal Id #10322 Solar System
Scientific paper
August 1999 HST/STIS observations of Io in Jupiter's shadow by Bagenal et al. {Program 8169} revealed 1700-5000 A emission from SO2, SO, and S I that was attributed to impact excitation/dissociation by plasma torus thermal electrons. The conclusions of their analysis were limited by their simplified model of Io, necessitated by the lack of laboratory data and information on the complex geometry of Io's patchy atmosphere and volcanoes. Since then, many Galileo observations of Io have been published which make a detailed model atmosphere for this epoch possible with few free parameters. In addition, laboratory experiments have better-defined both the electron-impact and NUV absorption cross-sections of SO2. Meanwhile, we have developed the capability to simulate the emission from the interaction of plasma particles with Io's neutral atmosphere, overlaying a radiation code onto our 3-D Monte Carlo flow field model of Io without making any of the unrealistic approximations of the original analysis {i.e., uniform isothermal atmosphere; no energy lost by the exciting electrons; and no absorption by SO2}. We propose to use these spectral images to constrain the remaining free parameters of this simulation to yield column abundances and atmospheric electron densities on the Jupiter-facing side of Io. The atmospheric S/SO2 abundance ratio is a diagnostic of SO2 dissociation in the internal volcanic magma that would constrain the volcanic process. These eclipse observations are unique; and they constrain models of Io's molecular atmosphere in ways no other extant data can.
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