EGU23-11468, updated on 11 Apr 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11468
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

µASC observations of Jovian energetic electrons interaction with Europa moon

Matija Herceg1, John L. Jørgensen1, Troelz Denver1, Julia Sushkova1, Peter S. Jørgensen1, John E. P. Connerney2,3, and Scott J. Bolton4
Matija Herceg et al.
  • 1Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lyngby, Denmark
  • 2Space Research Corporation, Annapolis, MD, United States
  • 3NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
  • 4Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Since Juno’s orbit insertion, the attitude reference for the MAG investigation onboard Juno, the micro Advanced Stellar Compass (µASC), and as a part of its additional functionality, continuously measures high energy electron fluxes in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. The µASC camera head unit (CHU) sensitivity to electrons with kinetic energy greater than 15 MeV and protons with energies >80MeV, provides a means of in-situ mapping of electron fluxes sampled during 47 Juno orbits.

The focus of this study are events observed when Juno is traversing M-shell of the Galilean moon, Europa, which shows distinctly different signature from that the other moons.

We present µASC observations of energetic electrons interaction with Europa moon. Europa generates a wake, that affect the high energy electron driftshell, by scattering electrons into the loss-cone. The wake is then dissolved and these interactions are observed around 20° down tail. On the upstream side, the energetic drift shell is free from hard radiation as Europa acts as an obstacle for the energetic electrons. This assymetry result in a lower electon density on the upstream side resulting in an E-field filling in the e- population from surrounding driftshells in less than 10°.

How to cite: Herceg, M., Jørgensen, J. L., Denver, T., Sushkova, J., Jørgensen, P. S., Connerney, J. E. P., and Bolton, S. J.: µASC observations of Jovian energetic electrons interaction with Europa moon, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11468, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11468, 2023.