Publication Date:
1999-08-07
Description:
The Galileo spacecraft has detected diffuse optical emissions from Io in high-resolution images acquired while the satellite was eclipsed by Jupiter. Three distinct components make up Io's visible emissions. Bright blue glows of more than 300 kilorayleighs emanate from volcanic plumes, probably due to electron impact on molecular sulfur dioxide. Weaker red emissions, possibly due to atomic oxygen, are seen along the limbs, brighter on the pole closest to the plasma torus. A faint green glow appears concentrated on the night side of Io, possibly produced by atomic sodium. Io's disk-averaged emission diminishes with time after entering eclipse, whereas the localized blue glows brighten instead.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Geissler, P E -- McEwen, A S -- Ip, W -- Belton, M J -- Johnson, T V -- Smyth, W H -- Ingersoll, A P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1999 Aug 6;285(5429):870-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85711, USA. geissler@lpl.arizona.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10436151" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Atmosphere
;
*Extraterrestrial Environment
;
*Jupiter
;
*Oxygen
;
Sodium
;
*Sulfur Dioxide
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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