Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dda....39.1601h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #39, #16.01
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Thebe's gossamer ring, the outermost and faintest of Jupiter's rings, extends outward by at least half a jovian radius from its source satellite while maintaining a constant vertical thickness. This structure is created by an electromagnetic perturbation known as a shadow resonance (Hamilton 2003, DPS meeting #35, #11.09). A shadow resonance arises from the abrupt shutoff of photoelectric charging when a dust particle enters Jupiter's shadow which, in turn, affects the strength of the electromagnetic perturbation from the planet's intense magnetic field. The result is a coupled oscillation between a particle's orbital eccentricity and its semimajor axis. Ring material spreads outward from Thebe while maintaining its vertical thickness just as observed by Galileo imaging.
In addition to cameras, the Galileo spacecraft was also equipped with dust and plasma detectors. The spacecraft made two passes through the ring and its dust detector found that 1) dust fluxes drop immediately interior to Thebe's orbit, 2) some grains have inclinations in excess of 20 degrees and 3) submicron particles are present in the Amalthea ring in much greater numbers than in the Thebe ring. These findings can all be explained in the context of our shadow resonance model: the inner boundary is a direct consequence of the conservation of the Electromagnetic Jacobi Constant, the high inclinations are forced by a vertical version of the shadow resonance, and the excess submicron particles are a consequence of the weakening of electromagnetic forces in the vicinity of synchronous orbit. In this talk, we will present the data sets as well as detailed numerical simulations that back up these claims.
Hamilton Douglas P.
Krueger Hans
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