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Ultraviolet emissions from the magnetic footprints of Io, Ganymede and Europa on Jupiter

Clarke, J. T.; Waite, J. H.; Ballester, G. +8 more

Io leaves a magnetic footprint on Jupiter's upper atmosphere that appears as a spot of ultraviolet emission that remains fixed underneath Io as Jupiter rotates. The specific physical mechanisms responsible for generating those emissions are not well understood, but in general the spot seems to arise because of an electromagnetic interaction betwee…

A pulsating auroral X-ray hot spot on Jupiter

Dougherty, M. K.; Young, D. T.; Clarke, J. T. +12 more

Jupiter's X-ray aurora has been thought to be excited by energetic sulphur and oxygen ions precipitating from the inner magnetosphere into the planet's polar regions. Here we report high-spatial-resolution observations that demonstrate that most of Jupiter's northern auroral X-rays come from a `hot spot' located significantly poleward of the latit…

Transient aurora on Jupiter from injections of magnetospheric electrons

Clarke, J. T.; Waite, J. H.; Mauk, B. H. +3 more

Energetic electrons and ions that are trapped in Earth's magnetosphere can suddenly be accelerated towards the planet. Some dynamic features of Earth's aurora (the northern and southern lights) are created by the fraction of these injected particles that travels along magnetic field lines and hits the upper atmosphere. Jupiter's aurora appears sim…

The binary Kuiper-belt object 1998 WW31

Parker, Joel Wm.; Tholen, David J.; Holman, Matthew J. +6 more

The recent discovery of a binary asteroid during a spacecraft fly-by generated keen interest, because the orbital parameters of binaries can provide measures of the masses, and mutual eclipses could allow us to determine individual sizes and bulk densities. Several binary near-Earth, main-belt and Trojan…