We present the first comparison of Jupiter's auroral morphology with an extended, continuous, and complete set of near‐Jupiter interplanetary data, revealing the response of Jupiter's auroras to the ...interplanetary conditions. We show that for ∼1–3 days following compression region onset, the planet's main emission brightened. A duskside poleward region also brightened during compressions, as well as during shallow rarefaction conditions at the start of the program. The power emitted from the noon active region did not exhibit dependence on any interplanetary parameter, though the morphology typically differed between rarefactions and compressions. The auroras equatorward of the main emission brightened over ∼10 days following an interval of increased volcanic activity on Io. These results show that the dependence of Jupiter's magnetosphere and auroras on the interplanetary conditions are more diverse than previously thought.
Plain Language Summary
Jupiter's auroras (northern lights) are the brightest in the solar system, over a hundred times brighter than the Earth's. Auroras on Earth are driven by the solar wind, a million mile‐per‐hour stream of charged particles flowing away from the Sun, hitting the Earth's magnetic field, and stirring it around, but it is not known whether the solar wind causes any significant auroras on Jupiter. The main reason for this uncertainty is a lack of observations of the planet's auroras obtained while spacecraft have been near Jupiter and able to supply a full and continuous set of measurements of the solar wind and its accompanying magnetic field. In early mid‐2016 Juno approached Jupiter, providing such an interplanetary data set, and we obtained over a month's worth of observations of Jupiter's auroras using the Hubble Space Telescope. We saw several solar wind storms, each causing auroral fireworks on Jupiter. We captured the most powerful auroras observed by Hubble to date, brightened main oval emissions, and flashing high‐latitude patches of auroras during the solar wind storms. These results indicate that Jupiter's auroral response to the solar wind is more diverse than we previously have thought.
Key Points
We present the first comparison of Jupiter's auroras with an extended and complete set of near‐Jupiter interplanetary data
During compressions, the well‐defined sector of Jupiter's emission and the dusk poleward region brightened, the latter pulsating
The power emitted from the noon active region did not exhibit dependence on any interplanetary parameter, though the morphology changed
We investigate magnetic data showing the presence of field‐aligned magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling currents on 31 Cassini passes across Saturn's southern postmidnight auroral region. The currents ...are strongly modulated in magnitude, form, and position by the phase of the southern planetary period oscillations (PPOs). PPO‐independent currents are separated from PPO‐related currents using the antisymmetry of the latter with respect to PPO phase. PPO‐independent downward currents ~1.1 MA per radian of azimuth flow over the polar open field region indicative of significant plasma subcorotation are enhanced in an outer plasma sheet layer of elevated ionospheric conductivity carrying ~0.8 MA rad−1 and close principally in an upward directed current sheet at ~17°–19° ionospheric colatitude carrying ~2.3 MA rad−1 that maps to the outer hot plasma region in Saturn's magnetosphere (equatorial range ~11–16 Saturn radii (RS)) colocated with the UV oval. Subsidiary downward and upward currents ~0.5 MA rad−1 lie at ~19°–20.5° colatitude mapping to the inner hot plasma region, but no comparable currents are detected at larger colatitudes mapping to the cool plasma regime inside ~8 RS. PPO‐related currents at ~17.5°–20° colatitude overlap the main upward and subsidiary downward currents and carry comparable rotating upward and downward currents peaking at ~1.7 MA rad−1. The overall current layer colatitude is also modulated with 1° amplitude in the PPO cycle, maximum equatorward adjacent to the peak upward PPO current and maximum poleward adjacent to peak downward PPO current. This phasing requires the current system to be driven from the planetary atmosphere rather than directly from the magnetosphere.
Key Points
Planetary period oscillations (PPOs) modulate Saturn's field‐aligned currents
PPO currents are near colocated with auroral subcorotation upward currents
Current sheet latitude motions show that PPOs are driven from the atmosphere
•Spatial distribution of the primary auroral electrons is not uniform.•Each auroral region presents very specific characteristics.•Mean electron energy determination is strongly model-dependent.•Mean ...energy and energy flux are correlated.•An hydrocarbon upwelling of min. 100km is necessary to reconcile STIS and ACS constraints on IFP emission.•Ion precipitation cannot explain ‘typical’ polar cap flare ultraviolet emissions.
We analyzed two observations obtained in Jan. 2013, consisting of spatial scans of the jovian north ultraviolet aurora with the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in the spectroscopic mode. The color ratio (CR) method, which relates the wavelength-dependent absorption of the FUV spectra to the mean energy of the precipitating electrons, allowed us to determine important characteristics of the entire auroral region. The results show that the spatial distribution of the precipitating electron energy is far from uniform. The morning main emission arc is associated with mean energies of around 265keV, the afternoon main emission (kink region) has energies near 105keV, while the ‘flare’ emissions poleward of the main oval are characterized by electrons in the 50–85keV range. A small scale structure observed in the discontinuity region is related to electrons of 232keV and the Ganymede footprint shows energies of 157keV. Interestingly, each specific region shows very similar behavior for the two separate observations.
The Io footprint shows a weak but undeniable hydrocarbon absorption, which is not consistent with altitudes of the Io emission profiles (∼900km relative to the 1bar level) determined from HST-ACS observations. An upward shift of the hydrocarbon homopause of at least 100km is required to reconcile the high altitude of the emission and hydrocarbon absorption.
The relationship between the energy fluxes and the electron energies has been compared to curves obtained from Knight’s theory of field-aligned currents. Assuming a fixed electron temperature of 2.5keV, an electron source population density of ∼800m−3 and ∼2400m−3 is obtained for the morning main emission and kink regions, respectively. Magnetospheric electron densities are lowered for the morning main emission (∼600m−3) if the relativistic version of Knight’s theory is applied.
Lyman and Werner H2 emission profiles, resulting from secondary electrons produced by precipitation of heavy ions in the 1–2MeV/u range, have been applied to our model. The low CR obtained from this emission suggests that heavy ions, presumably the main source of the X-ray aurora, do not significantly contribute to typical UV high latitude emission.
The relationship between electron energy flux and the characteristic energy of electron distributions in the main auroral loss cone bridges the gap between predictions made by theory and measurements ...just recently available from Juno. For decades such relationships have been inferred from remote sensing observations of the Jovian aurora, primarily from the Hubble Space Telescope, and also more recently from Hisaki. However, to infer these quantities, remote sensing techniques had to assume properties of the Jovian atmospheric structure - leading to uncertainties in their profile. Juno's arrival and subsequent auroral passes have allowed us to obtain these relationships unambiguously for the first time, when the spacecraft passes through the auroral acceleration region. Using Juno /Jupiter Energetic particle Detector Instrument (JEDI), an energetic particle instrument, we present these relationships for the 30-kiloelectronvolts to 1-megaelectronvolts electron population. Observations presented here show that the electron energy flux in the loss cone is a nonlinear function of the characteristic or mean electron energy and supports both the predictions from Knight (1973, https://doi.org/10.1016/0032-0633(73)90093-7) and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence acceleration theories (e.g., Saur et al., 2003, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL015761). Finally, we compare the in situ analyses of Juno with remote Hisaki observations and use them to help constrain Jupiter's atmospheric profile. We find a possible solution that provides the best agreement between these data sets is an atmospheric profile that more efficiently transports the hydrocarbons to higher altitudes. If this is correct, it supports the previously published idea (e.g., Parkinson et al., 2006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JE002539) that precipitating electrons increase the hydrocarbon eddy diffusion coefficients in the auroral regions.
A large set of observations of Jupiter's ultraviolet aurora was collected with the Hubble Space Telescope concurrently with the NASA‐Juno mission, during an eight‐month period, from 30 November 2016 ...to 18 July 2017. These Hubble observations cover Juno orbits 3 to 7 during which Juno in situ and remote sensing instruments, as well as other observatories, obtained a wealth of unprecedented information on Jupiter's magnetosphere and the connection with its auroral ionosphere. Jupiter's ultraviolet aurora is known to vary rapidly, with timescales ranging from seconds to one Jovian rotation. The main objective of the present study is to provide a simplified description of the global ultraviolet auroral morphology that can be used for comparison with other quantities, such as those obtained with Juno. This represents an entirely new approach from which logical connections between different morphologies may be inferred. For that purpose, we define three auroral subregions in which we evaluate the auroral emitted power as a function of time. In parallel, we define six auroral morphology families that allow us to quantify the variations of the spatial distribution of the auroral emission. These variations are associated with changes in the state of the Jovian magnetosphere, possibly influenced by Io and the Io plasma torus and by the conditions prevailing in the upstream interplanetary medium. This study shows that the auroral morphology evolved differently during the five ~2 week periods bracketing the times of Juno perijove (PJ03 to PJ07), suggesting that during these periods, the Jovian magnetosphere adopted various states.
Key Points
The study presents the results of a large HST campaign observing Jupiter's UV aurora, concurrently with the in situ exploration of its magnetosphere with Juno
The study provides an original analysis method based on the definition of six morphological families tentatively associated with Jupiter's magnetospheric state
This HST data set provides crucial synergistic measurements and additional opportunities to augment the Juno mission science return
It has often been stated that Saturn's magnetosphere and aurorae are intermediate between those of Earth, where the dominant processes are solar wind driven, and those of Jupiter, where processes are ...driven by a large source of internal plasma. But this view is based on information about Saturn that is far inferior to what is now available. Here we report ultraviolet images of Saturn, which, when combined with simultaneous Cassini measurements of the solar wind and Saturn kilometric radio emission, demonstrate that its aurorae differ morphologically from those of both Earth and Jupiter. Saturn's auroral emissions vary slowly; some features appear in partial corotation whereas others are fixed to the solar wind direction; the auroral oval shifts quickly in latitude; and the aurora is often not centred on the magnetic pole nor closed on itself. In response to a large increase in solar wind dynamic pressure Saturn's aurora brightened dramatically, the brightest auroral emissions moved to higher latitudes, and the dawn side polar regions were filled with intense emissions. The brightening is reminiscent of terrestrial aurorae, but the other two variations are not. Rather than being intermediate between the Earth and Jupiter, Saturn's auroral emissions behave fundamentally differently from those at the other planets.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We compare Chandra and XMM‐Newton X‐ray observations of Jupiter during 2007 with a rich multi‐instrument data set including upstream in situ solar wind measurements from the New Horizons spacecraft, ...radio emissions from the Nançay Decametric Array and Wind/Waves, and ultraviolet (UV) observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. New Horizons data revealed two corotating interaction regions (CIRs) impacted Jupiter during these observations. Non‐Io decametric bursts and UV emissions brightened together and varied in phase with the CIRs. We characterize three types of X‐ray aurorae: hard X‐ray bremsstrahlung main emission, pulsed/flared soft X‐ray emissions, and a newly identified dim flickering (varying on short time scales, but quasi‐continuously present) aurora. For most observations, the X‐ray aurorae were dominated by pulsed/flaring emissions, with ion spectral lines that were best fit by iogenic plasma. However, the brightest X‐ray aurora was coincident with a magnetosphere expansion. For this observation, the aurorae were produced by both flickering emission and erratic pulses/flares. Auroral spectral models for this observation required the addition of solar wind ions to attain good fits, suggesting solar wind entry into the outer magnetosphere or directly into the pole for this particularly bright observation. X‐ray bremsstrahlung from high energy electrons was only bright for one observation, which was during a forward shock. This bremsstrahlung was spatially coincident with bright UV main emission (power > 1 TW) and X‐ray ion spectral line dusk emission, suggesting closening of upward and downward current systems during the shock. Otherwise, the bremsstrahlung was dim, and UV main emission power was also lower (<700 GW), suggesting their power scaled together.
Key Points
We characterize three types of X‐ray aurorae (main oval, ir/regular pulses, and flickering aurorae) and compare with radio, UV, and solar wind data
Non‐Io decametric bursts occurred with UV auroral brightening, and UV and hard X‐ray main auroral emission also brightened contemporaneously
Soft X‐ray aurora was best fit by iogenic (S, O) spectral lines except during magnetospheric expansion when solar wind ion lines were needed
Recent results of the first ever orbit through Jupiter's auroral region by NASA's Juno spacecraft did not show evidence of coherent acceleration in the auroral or polar region. However, in this ...letter, we show energetic particle data from Juno's Jupiter Energetic‐particle Detector Instrument instrument during the third auroral pass that exhibits conclusive evidence of downward parallel electric fields in portions of Jupiter's polar region. The energetic particle distributions show inverted‐V ion and electron structures in a downward electric current region with accelerated peaked distributions in hundreds of keV to ~1 MeV range. The origin of these large electric potential structures is investigated and discussed within the current theoretical framework of current‐voltage relationships at both Earth and Jupiter. Parallel electric fields responsible for accelerating particles to maintain the aurora/magnetospheric circuit appear to be a common phenomenon among strongly magnetized planets with conducting ionospheres; however, their origin and generation mechanisms are subjects of ongoing research.
Key Points
Evidence of magnetic field‐aligned electric potentials above portions of Jupiter's polar cap regions
Electrons show upward peaked energy distributions of several hundreds of keV
Ions (H+, On+, and Sn+) show downward peaked energy distributions from hundreds of keV to a few MeV
We conduct a statistical analysis of 2,094 reconnection events in Saturn's near‐equatorial magnetotail previously identified in Cassini magnetometer data from intervals during 2006 and 2009/2010. ...These consist of tailward propagating plasmoids and planetward propagating dipolarizations, with approximately twice as many plasmoids as dipolarizations. We organize these by three related planetary period oscillation (PPO) phase systems, the northern and southern PPO phases relative to noon, the same phases retarded by a radial propagation delay, and the local retarded phases that take account of the azimuth (local time) of the observation. Clear PPO modulation is found for both plasmoid and dipolarization events, with local retarded phases best organizing the event data with the modulation in event frequency propagating across the tail as the PPO systems rotate. This indicates that the events are localized in azimuth, rather than simultaneously affecting much of the tail width. Overall, events occur preferentially by factors of ~3 at northern and southern phases where the tail current sheet is expected locally to be thinnest in the PPO cycle, with field lines contracting back from their maximum radial displacement, compared with the antiphase conditions. Separating the events into those representing the start of independent reconnection episodes, occurring at least 3 hr after the last, and events in subsequent clusters, shows that the above phases are predominantly characteristic of the majority cluster events. The phases at the start of independent reconnection episodes are typically ~60° earlier.
Key Points
We analyze a catalogue of 2,094 reconnection events in Saturn's magnetotail and organize them according to northern and southern PPO phases
Events are best organized by local PPO phases rather than global phases, implying that reconnection is more locally than globally triggered
Events are best organized by phases where the tail current sheet should be locally thin and the field lines near maximum radial displacement
We examine the final 44 orbits of the Cassini spacecraft traversing the midnight sector of Saturn's magnetosphere to distances of ~21 Saturn radii, to investigate responses to heliospheric conditions ...inferred from model solar wind and Cassini galactic cosmic ray flux data. Clear storm responses to anticipated magnetospheric compressions are observed in magnetic field and energetic particle data, together with Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR), auroral hiss, and ultraviolet auroral emissions. Most compression events are associated with corotating interaction regions, producing ~2–3.5 day intervals of magnetospheric activity that are recurrent with the ~26 day solar rotation period (one or two such events per rotation), though one on the final pass is related to a nonrecurrent interplanetary shock possibly associated with an earlier X‐class solar flare. The response to compressions is modulated by the concurrent relative phasing of the northern and southern planetary period oscillation (PPO) systems, with long (>1 planetary rotation) SKR low‐frequency extension (LFE) intervals associated with strong field‐aligned coupling currents being favored when the two PPO systems act together to thin and thicken the tail plasma sheet during each PPO cycle. LFE onsets/intensifications are then favored at thin plasma sheet phases most unstable to reconnection, producing energetic nightside particle injections and poleward contractions of dawn‐brightened auroras. Correspondingly, solar rotation recurrent intervals of magnetospheric quiet conditions also occur with weak energetic particle fluxes and auroral emissions, associated with extended solar wind rarefactions. Overall, the results emphasize how strongly activity in Saturn's magnetosphere is modulated by concurrent heliospheric conditions.
Key Points
We examine data from the final 44 Cassini orbits to investigate the response of Saturn's magnetosphere to concurrent heliospheric conditions
Compression‐related intervals of storm activity and rarefaction‐related intervals of quiet are mostly associated with recurrent heliospheric CIRs
Storm responses are also modulated by the relative phase of the two planetary period oscillation systems with major responses for antiphase
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