Scattering of Solar X-Rays by Jupiter and Saturn
Abstract
Soft X-ray emission has been observed from the disks of both Jupiter and Saturn, as well as from the auroral regions of these planets. The low-latitude disk emission as observed by ROSAT, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and XMM-Newton appears to be uniformly distributed across the disk and to be correlated with solar activity. These characteristics suggest that the source of the disk x-rays are: (1) elastic scattering of solar X-rays by atmospheric neutrals (2) absorption of solar X-rays in the carbon K-shell followed by fluorescent emission. The carbon atoms are found in methane molecules located below the homopause. In this paper we present the results of calculations of the scattering albedo and of the emitted x-ray intensity for a range of atmospheric abundances and for a number of solar irradiance spectra. The model calculations are compared with recent x-ray observations of Jupiter and Saturn.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005AGUSM.P44A..05C
- Keywords:
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- 0669 Scattering and diffraction;
- 5704 Atmospheres: composition and chemistry;
- 5757 Remote sensing;
- 7554 X rays;
- gamma rays;
- and neutrinos