IUE observations of longitudinal and temporal variations in the Jovian auroral emission

• Main Authors: Skinner, T. E., Durrance, S. T., Feldman, P. D., Moos, H. W.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1984
• Subjects: 91; North Pole
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840044910

The IUE's short wavelength spectrograph has been used to monitor the auroral emissions from Jupiter's northern hemisphere, yielding eight observations between January 1981 and January 1982 of H I Lyman-alpha and the H2 Lyman and Werner bands. Attention is given to an apparent periodic emission flux fluctuation, through detailed modeling of the emission geometry. Two possible auroral zones are defined at the north pole by mapping the magnetic field lines from the Io torus and the magnetotail onto the planet's atmosphere. The observed variation in flux with central meridian longitude is not consistent with a uniform brightness as a function of magnetic longitude in either auroral zone. The data can be fitted by confining the emissions to the region of the northern torus auroral zone, in qualitative agreement with the magnetic anomaly model. A similar emission from the magnetotail auroral zone cannot be ruled out.