Far-Uv Airglow and Albedo Observations of Europa and Ganymede

Details Far-Uv Airglow and Albedo Observations of Europa and Ganymede Far-Uv Airglow and Albedo Observations of Europa and Ganymede

Jul 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6758h&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #6758

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #6758 Solar System

Scientific paper

The recent HST discovery of a molecular oxygen atmosphere on Europa and the ground-based discovery of oxygen molecules trapped in the near-surface material of Ganymede provide a striking confirmation of the prediction that O_2 is a stable end-product of the evolution icy surfaces exposed to charged-particle radiation. However, questions remain about the nature of the mechanisms that produce the oxygen molecules and excite the observed far-UV emissions. We propose to use the HST GHRS to measure Europa's OI 1304 Angstrom and 1356 Angstrom brightnesses on both leading and trailing hemispheres to establish the long-term stability of the airglow emission, and to determine the magnitude of its leading/trailing hemisphere emission asymmetry. In addition, we propose to search for the same far-UV oxygen emissions on Ganymede, to determine (or place upper limits) on its abundance of gaseous oxygen in both molecular and atomic form. The proposed observations will also provide measurements of Europa's leading and trailing hemisphere geometric albedos, and Ganymede's trailing hemisphere albedo, by using the reflected brightness of the solar CII 1335 Angstrom feature, and will establish the existence of any systematic differences in the abundance of UV-darkening contaminants on the icy surfaces of the satellites.

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