Jupiter and Saturn magnetospheric dynamics explored using auroral electron accelerations derived from ultraviolet auroral emissions

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K17769
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Space and upper atmospheric physics
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: TAO Chihiro 東北大学, 理学研究科, 客員研究者 (80552562)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: オーロラ / 木星 / 土星 / 電子加速 / 磁気圏 / ひさき宇宙望遠鏡 / ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study defined a new auroral intensity ratio according to the wavelength range of Hisaki space telescope and we developed a method deriving auroral electron density, flux, and magnetospheric parameters from the observation. We evaluated the method by comparing them with observations using the Hubble space telescope. Applying this method, we found the characteristic time variations of Jupiter aurora and magnetospheric plasma responding to the inner-driven (i.e., Jupiter rotation and Io volcanic activity) and outer-driven (i.e., solar wind) variations. We applied H/H2 intensity ratio which is sensitive to the low-energy aurora electron to the Jupiter aurora and discussed similarity and difference compared to the Saturn aurora.

Free Research Field

惑星超高層・電磁圏物理