The Voyager 1 outbound ultraviolet observations of the Io plasma torus are
used to determine the location of the ansae, to obtain a third viewing angle
of this structure in the Jovian magnetosphere. At an angle of -114∘
with respect to the Sun–Jupiter line, or a Jovian local time of 04:30 LT,
the Voyager 1 data deliver a distance of 5.74±0.10RJ for
the approaching and 5.83±0.15RJ for the receding ansa.
Various periodicities in the radial distance, brightness and width of the
ansae are seen with respect to system III longitude and Io phase angle. The
torus ribbon feature does not appear in all ansa scans.
Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere interactions with satellites and rings)Introduction
The Io plasma torus is a gaseous cloud centred at Jupiter, basically located
at Io's orbit. It consists mainly of sulfur and oxygen, which is created by
Io's volcanic activity and has an input rate of approximately 1
tonne per second. The torus was first discovered by and later many
spacecraft (e.g. Pioneer 10, Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo and Cassini) and
ground-based and space telescopes have observed this object.
The Io plasma torus is very energetic. Most easily observed are the
“endpoints” of the torus, which we will call ansa, like is done in the
investigations of Saturn's rings. In the Voyager 1 and 2 era, it was estimated
to emit approximately 2–3×1012 W, mainly in the UV. Also, the main
emission region seemed to be very small, where an estimated 85 % of the UV
emission appeared to come from a narrow ribbon-like structure in the torus
(just inside of Io's orbit) not wider than 0.2 RJ.
The
UVS scan 7101 from 12 March 1979 showing the relative brightness as a
function of radial distance from Jupiter. The full scan runs over -10RJ≤R≤10RJ with a resolution of
0.1 RJ. Clearly visible are the bright ansae near R≈±6RJ.
More recent investigations, however, deduced a lower emission of ∼1–2×1012 W . Also there seems to be a
lack of the ribbon feature that was observed by Voyager in, for example, the Cassini
UVIS data . Observations by the New Horizons and Rosetta
missions showed again a factor of 2 less emission as compared with Cassini
.
Various periodicities have been noticed in the Io plasma torus. For a review
on periodicities the authors would like to point the reader to
and . The dominant ones up to now are (1) the Io phase effect
, a periodic brightening of the ansae as a
function of Io's phase angle; (2) system III variations in apparent distance
of the plasma torus from Jupiter e.g.;
(3) system IV variations e.g.; and (4) system III
variations in optical brightness .
In this paper we will take a look at some specifics of the Io plasma torus,
based on the Voyager 1 outbound UV observations. Our goal is to find the
average distance of the ansa from Jupiter from Voyager 1's viewpoint and to
investigate the presence of the ribbon feature. We will first introduce the
data we use and the model to make a fit to the data. We then give a summary
of our results and discuss our findings.
The data
We use the Voyager 1 outbound 685 Å UVS data of day
of year (DOY) 68, 70, 71, 72, and 74 (9, 11, 12, 13 and 15 March) of 1979, where the spacecraft moved
from 66 RJ (day 68) to 166 RJ (day 74) from
Jupiter. The data from the Voyager 1 outbound pass are valuable, because they
give us a new viewing angle on the torus of -114∘ with respect to
the ground-based observations, which corresponds to a Jovian local time of
04:30. This might help us to get a better understanding of the location of
the Io plasma torus around Jupiter. The UVS slit aperture was aligned with
Jupiter's rotation axis, making it a perfect set of observations to get
information on the radial structure of the torus between -10RJ≤R≤10RJ as shown in
Fig. . These data consist of two scans of the torus for DOY
68, 70, and 71, one scan for DOY 72 and 5 scans for DOY 74. Figure
shows a superposed epoch study of all 12 torus scans, with the median (red)
and upper and lower quartiles (green). Clearly visible are the two bright
ansae near R≈±6RJ.
The data are binned in 0.1 RJ wide bins and corrected for a
distance of 750 RJ to make the scans, that are taken at
different distances from Jupiter, comparable. Because of the difference in
distance during the scans, the spatial resolution with the field of view of
the UVS aperture of 0.1∘×0.89∘ is
varying from ∼ 0.07 to ∼ 0.17 RJ. The data are
corrected for this by a triangular filter as described in .
The same analysis as in is performed on the Voyager 1 outbound
data, which allows for a direct comparison of the Voyager 2 and Voyager 1
results. We calculate the emission from a model described by ,
a photon source centred at the torus at 6 RJ, falling linearly
to zero at 4.9 RJ inward and parabolically to zero at
8.9 RJ outward. To this is added a bright, narrow Gaussian core
to be able to get a better fit to the data. This core will be called a ribbon hereafter.
The radial emission profile of the torus in UV is calculated and has to be
fitted to the Voyager 1 outbound observations. As the added core is of
finite extent we first make sure that the inner region of the background
torus is fitted well in amplitude in the region between 3 and
5 RJ. We then check if the ribbon is wide and intense enough to
fit the data. If not, we change the values for the width and amplitude and
calculate a new torus emission model. To show that the ribbonless model of
the torus as proposed in is inadequate, we point the reader
to , their Fig. 1. The ribbon is described in the model by a
full width at half maximum (FWHM) and an intensity.
As the ansae and the ribbon are moving radially with system III and are not
symmetrical with respect to Jupiter e.g. see, we have to make a small correction in radial distance of the model
ribbon, which has its location at 5.9 RJ. We use a Gaussfit (a
Gaussian plus a second order polynomial) to find the radius of maximal
brightness in the data and shift the torus UV model in such a way that its
maximum agrees in radial distance with the observations.
Three scans
of the Io plasma torus on DOY 70, 71, and 74, divided into approaching (a)
and receding (b) ansa. The dashed lines in the figure represent the
brightness model by and the solid lines are with the ribbon
feature included by .
The Voyager 1 outbound data results in table
form. For each scan of the torus the relevant information is given for the approaching (a)
and receding (r) ansae. The values between brackets indicate poorly determined fits of the brightness.
Whenever there is a dash in the ribbon width column, the data could not be fitted with a ribbon-included model.
For scan 6801r there was a significant data gap, so no brightness fit.
We have taken the 12 scans of the torus, giving us 24 scans of an ansa and
perform our fitting as discussed above. Three scans for DOY 70, 71, and 74 are
shown in Fig. , split into approaching (left column) and
receding (right column) ansa. Three different cases are shown where the
receding ansa is brighter (DOY 70), the approaching ansa is brighter (DOY 71)
and when both ansae are equally bright (DOY 74). It is clear that the simple
brightness model including a ribbon feature fits some of the ansae rather
well; however, there are clear cases in which the this model is inadequate.
The results of the fittings can be seen in Table , where all
important quantities (system III and IV longitude, Io phase, maximum relative
brightness, ribbon width, distance of maximum brightness from Jupiter and
FWHM of the observed ansa) are listed. Whenever there is a dash in the ribbon
width column, the data could not be
fitted with the ribbon-included model. Values in brackets are not well
determined. For the results shown in Table , the maximum
relative brightness Imax and the FWHM of the ansa is determined from
the data, not from the brightness model.
From the data set in Table , the behaviour of the Io plasma
torus is investigated.
Longitudinal distance variation
Many studies have shown variations in the location of the Io plasma torus as
a function of system III and IV
longitude . From this new viewing angle of the
torus, a comparison can be made with the results of the previous
observations. In Fig. the Voyager 2 ground-based
observations and average Voyager 1 and Galileo distances
determined by are shown, with the data from this current
paper. It is clear that the approaching ansa distance from this study fits
rather well with that of previous studies, whereas the location of the
receding ansa is clearly standing apart from the previous determinations from
other viewing directions.
The distance
of the approaching (a) and receding (b) ansa as a function
of system III longitude from different studies: in blue
triangles, in red asterisks, in magenta circles
and this study in black squares. The red lines are second-order Fourier fits
to the data.
Io phase effect
The Io phase effect, i.e. the brightening of the ansa when Io is
approaching it is a well-known
phenomenon. Although, interestingly, did not see a noticeable
correlation between the ansa brightness and the Io phase, using EUVE data. In
Fig. a and b the maximum relative brightness of the
ansae is plotted as a function of Io phase angle, with a second order Fourier
fit to the data.
(a, b)
The maximum relative brightness of the approaching (a, c) and
receding (b, d) ansa as a function of the Io phase angle, with a
second order Fourier fit superposed. (c, d) The ansa distance from
Jupiter as a function of Io phase angle.
For the approaching ansa the maximum brightness peaks near ϕIo≈21∘ and for the receding at ϕIo≈221∘ Io phase angle. found that the maximum
brightness of the ansae occurred for ϕIo≈50/230∘ for much greater statistics. The results from this study do
agree with the result that when Io is approaching an ansa, the brightness
will increase with a maximum brightness long before Io is at the ansa.
Figure c and d show the ansa distance from Jupiter
as a function of Io phase angle. For the approaching ansa there is mainly a
random spread around the average distance of 5.75±0.10RJ.
For the receding ansa there seems to be an indication of a maximum distance
at ϕIo≈175∘.
FWHM of ansa
The FWHM values of the ansa, determined from the data and listed in
Table , are plotted as a function of system III and Io phase
angle in Fig. . A second order Fourier fit is made to the data,
which shows that there is a clear pattern in the receding ansa, whereas for
the approaching ansa there seems to be no functionality with either
ordinate.
The FWHM of
the ansae as a function of system III longitude (a, b) and Io phase
angle (c, d). The red lines are second order Fourier fits to the
data.
Ansa brightness ratio
There is a difference in the brightness of the ansae
e.g. see, such that the approaching
ansa is dimmer than the receding ansa. This is in contrast to the situation
shown in Fig. and the numbers in the last column of
Table , where the approaching ansa is often brighter than the
receding ansa. For some of the scans( 7101, 7404 and 7405), this could be
related to the Io phase effect.
Relative brightness and ribbon existence
The ansa brightness model used in this paper from cannot
fit every ansa scan incorporating a ribbon feature. Looking at the
information in Table there seems to be a relationship
between the maximum relative brightness of the ansa and the presence of a
ribbon feature. For the scans where Imax is less than ∼ 11
this model does not seem to work. This could be explained if the ribbon
feature only appears for very bright ansae. This could possibly be a reason
why the ribbon feature is not present in the fainter torus during the Cassini
and New Horizons/Rosetta age.
Average distance from Jupiter
Averaged ansa locations from this paper and two of the largest
continuous data sets of torus observations.
From the values in Table the average distance of the ansae
is determined: 5.74±0.10RJ for the approaching and 5.83±0.15RJ for the receding ansa. Table shows
these averaged values in context with two other results . In Fig. the result is shown in graphical form, with the
ansa angle (defined like the Io phase angle, i.e. the ansa at midnight has
zero angle and the noon ansa has 180∘) as well as the ansa local
time. A second order Fourier fit has been made to the points.
Average location of the ansae as a function of ansa angle and local
time. The ansa angle is defined similar to the Io phase angle, the ansa at
midnight has zero and the ansa at noon has 180∘ angle. The
approaching ansa are shown in blue and receding ansa in red. The solid red line is a
second order Fourier fit to the data.
Discussion
We have studied the Voyager 1 outbound UVS scans of the Io plasma torus,
delivering a new viewing angle of this interesting structure from -114∘ from the Sun–Jupiter
line, or at 04:30 LT. The complete data set consists of only 12 scans of the
torus so statistical results have to be looked at with care.
The brightness of the ansae behave differently from what is discussed in
earlier papers. Although the superposed epoch study in Fig.
shows that the median brightness of the approaching ansa is dimmer than the
receding anse, the upper quartile shows that the brightness ratio is
reversed. In four scans Ia/Ir<1, whereas for six scans Ia/Ir>1. For three of the six scans this could be related to the Io phase effect. This,
however, may not be surprising because of the large difference in viewing
angle of the torus, i.e. about 90∘ with respect to the Voyager 2
inbound direction. This result can be interpreted as the observations being
in the regions where the change from approaching to receding ansa is taking
place, and thus possibly also the change in brightness.
The average distance of both ansae, as given in Table and
graphically displayed in Fig. , shows a clear offset torus towards
dawn as described in in their Fig. 10. The variations in the
ansa location with respect to system III show that the approaching ansa for
Voyager 1 fit well into the range of the previous observations, but the
location and variation in the receding ansa differ from the previously
determined values.
Although the statistics are small, there is a clear signature of the Io
phase effect in the ansa brightness.
The prominent ribbon feature from the Voyager 2 observations is not as
prominent in this data set. There is a tentative piece of evidence that this
may be related to the relative brightness of the ansa, with all possible
ribbon structures appearing when the relative brightness is greater than
∼ 11. The result that a ribbon can only be found if the apparent
brightness is greater then some critical level is of importance. As the UV
emission is mainly dependent on the electron temperature (exponential in
temperature, quadratically in density) this finding means that there is a
critical value for the electron temperature. In the model by
for the formation of the ribbon, this result makes sense. A higher electron
temperature means that the energy-loss time, τel, for hot ions
to warm electrons increases. The timescale is proportional to the
temperature, τel∝Te3/2. In
's ribbon formation model, this results in a higher
pressure by the hot ions (pressure being proportional to the temperature of
the hot ions), as they cannot loose as much energy as the electrons are
cooler. Higher pressure by the hot ions leads to a thicker ribbon. Evidently
the pressure has to reach a critical value, related to the critical apparent
brightness, before the ribbon feature becomes visible in the UV. Although our
data are marginal, they could be interpreted as being in agreement with a
relation between ribbon width and brightness; the brighter the ansa, the
thicker the ribbon (see Table ). However, we will not
consider this valid evidence of such a relationship. Naturally, we can also
consider density variations in the torus to give rise to an increase in
emission and thus the occurrence of the ribbon feature.
Conclusions
Voyager 1 outbound ultra-violet observations of the Io plasma
torus have given a new viewpoint of this interesting structure in the Jovian
magnetosphere. A third set of average distances for the ansae has been
obtained: 5.74±0.10RJ for the approaching and 5.83±0.15RJ for the receding ansa. The ansa distance varies
with system III longitude. Brightness variations in the ansae related to the
Io phase effect are present, and the brightness asymmetry between the ansae
with the approaching ansa being dimmer than the receding ansa being not as
evident in this data set. The presence of a ribbon feature is not always clear,
and its occurrence seems to be related to the brightness of the
ansa.
The data for this paper can be obtained from
http://www.iwf.oeaw.ac.at/user-site/martin-volwerk/.
The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Bill Sandel, Floyd Herbert, Alex Dessler and
Bill Smyth for useful discussions and Terry Forrester for processing the data
into a usable form. The topical editor, Elias Roussos, thanks one anonymous
referee for help in evaluating this paper.
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