Energetic Electrons in the Jovian Magnetosphere Detected by the Alice UV Spectrograph Aboard New Horizons

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In addition to SWAP and PEPSSI, the two instruments dedicated to measuring in situ particle fluxes, the New Horizons spacecraft is equipped with a third instrument that is sensitive to high energy electrons: the Alice UV spectrograph. Electrons with energy > 470 keV can penetrate the thin aluminum housing of Alice and interact with the microchannel plate detector, producing a count that is indistinguishable from a photon event. When both instruments are operating, the count rates of Alice and the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) electron sensors are highly correlated, confirming that the Alice count rate serves as a direct measure of the energetic electron flux at New Horizons, especially during times when the Alice aperture door was closed and no FUV photons could reach the detector. Over a 10-day period beginning on 22 February 2007, Alice recorded the integrated detector count rate with a duty cycle of 44%. Since the Alice count rate was sampled once per second, this data has the highest time resolution of any data set of energetic electron fluxes at Jupiter, although it is lacking any spatial or energy resolution. Alice observed an upstream solar wind event while 110 RJ from Jupiter. One and a half days later, Alice observed the magnetopause crossing at a distance of 67 RJ , suggesting the Jovian magnetosphere was in a compressed state during the New Horizons encounter. During the inbound leg of Jupiter flyby, Alice observed the energetic electron flux to be intense and highly variable. After closest approach, data from Alice and PEPSSI show spikes in count rate every five hours, the signature of the Jovian current sheet crossing over the spacecraft. During periods when New Horizons was out of the current sheet, the Alice count rate dropped to within a factor of two of the pre-Jupiter background levels, suggesting that the energetic electrons on these flux tubes have been lost.

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