Radio Emissions from the Planets and their Moons

Abstract

We review the present observational knowledge of planetary non-thermal radio emissions (spectrum, emitted power, source location, beaming, modulations and frequency-time structures), emphasizing high-latitude, auroral and satellite- induced components at the outer planets. Important results have been obtained in the past few years from the observations of Ulysses and Galileo at Jupiter, of Wind and other spacecraft in Earth orbit, from the reanalysis of Voyager data about Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, from ground-based high frequency-time resolution and full polarization measurements, and from pioneering multi-spectral observations of the Jovian and Saturnian aurorae (radio/UV/IR). We try to organize those in a coherent frame, discuss similarities and differences at the five radio planets, and outline open questions, future observations, as well as the broad astrophysical interest of studying planetary magnetospheric, non-thermal radio emissions.