Wuppertal 2015 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 11: Planeten 2
EP 11.3: Talk
Friday, March 13, 2015, 09:30–09:45, G.10.02 (HS 9)
The spatial structure and variability of Ganymede's auroral ovals from Hubble Space Telescope observations — •Fabrizio Musacchio1, Joachim Saur1, Lorenz Roth2, Paul D. Feldman3, Darrell F. Strobel4, Kurt D. Retherford2, and Melissa A. McGrath5 — 1Universität zu Köln, Köln, Deutschland — 2Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA — 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA — 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA — 5Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
We investigate properties of Ganymede's FUV auroral ovals using spectral images acquired during the past two decades with Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS). The observations cover Ganymede at eastern and western elongation. We analyze the variability of the structure and brightness of the auroral ovals as a function of magnetic latitude. The investigation of the aurora is a diagnostic tool of the various processes, which contribute to Ganymede's complex magnetic field environment. The variability which we find consists of both, spatial inhomogeneities on the moon disk and temporal variation as a function of Ganymede's position within the current sheet of Jupiter's magnetosphere. An additional temporal variability is present as the brightness properties vary for different elongations in different periods.