New HST observations in the search for Europa's plumes and a neutral torus
Abstract
Europa's potential subsurface habitat could possibly be investigated at locations of active outgassing, giving the question whether Europa has plumes a crucial importance. In the hunt for confirmation of Europa's plumes, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has obtained spectral imaging observations of emissions from the atmosphere in a medium-sized HST campaign between March 2018 and August 2020. We will give the first overview of the results from the then completed campaign and discuss potential plume-related signals in the new data. In another HST campaign, high-sensitivity far-ultraviolet spectra of the western ansa of a potential Europa neutral torus will be obtained in August 2020. A torus at Europa's distance to Jupiter was indirectly detected through measurements of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). We present first results from the HST torus campaign, possibly providing independent evidence for a torus in Europa's orbit.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMP086...08R
- Keywords:
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- 0738 Ice;
- CRYOSPHERE;
- 4299 General or miscellaneous;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL;
- 6207 Comparative planetology;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6297 Instruments and techniques;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS