WELCOME to
Aurorae
In the
Solar System
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
– Sponsoring Projects
• Galileo Europa Mission
• Jupiter System Data Analysis Program
• ACRIMSAT
– Supporting Projects
• Ulysses Project
• Outer Planets / Solar Probe
• NASA HQ Office of Space Science
Sun-Earth Connection Theme
• Stanford Solar Center
• Deep Space Network
• SOHO
• IMIG satellite program
• Raytheon ITSS
• Timed
• Solar2000
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Logistics
– Badges - please keep them on & visible
– Video taping
– ERC souvenir store - yellow sign (~3:30)
• Lunch-time activities
– SFOF - green sign, 11:30 & 12:00 (limit 45/tour)
– Welcome to Outer Space (video)
11:30 - 12:00 in Von Karman auditorium
– Telescopes (weather permitting)
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
Agenda
• Overview
• The Solar Maximum
 “Light” Activities
• Aurorae on Earth
 Magnetic and Energetic Activities
• Jupiter’s Aurorae and Atmospheric Phenomena
• The Sun-Jupiter Connection
 Educational Observation Programs
• Evaluations/Give-Aways/Handouts/Badges
+Radio JOVE (depart from blue sign at 3:15)
J.E. Klemaszewski
Overview
• The Sun
– How big is it?
– What’s it made of?
– How is it structured?
• Aurora
– What are they?
– How do they form?
– Where are they located?
• The Earth and Jupiter
– Composition
– Structure
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Sun
• Size
– Mass = 1.99 x 1030 kg (332,000x Earth)
– Diameter = 1,392,000 km (109x Earth)
• Composition
–
–
–
–
–
abundance
Hydrogen
91.2%
Helium
8.6%
Oxygen
0.08%
Carbon
0.045%
Nitrogen, Silicon, Magnesium,
Neon, Iron, Sulfur
0.03%
J.E. Klemaszewski
mass
71.0%
27.1 %
0.97%
0.40 %
0.53%
Measuring
Composition
• Temperature
– Determined from the peak frequency or wavelength
of a continuous spectrum
• Emission lines
– Narrow slices of the continuous spectrum
– Line patterns unique to each element or molecule
• Absorption lines
– Gaps in spectrum due to absorption by cool gases
– Correspond to same wavelengths as emission
lines
– Characteristic of the intervening gas
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Electromagnetic Sky
J.E. Klemaszewski
Spectroscopy
Electromagnetic Spectrum
– Radio waves: sub-cm to 100s m
radar, magnetic fields, interstellar gas, galactic structure
– Infrared radiation: ~1 - 100 microns
molecular composition, cool stars, galaxies
– visible light: 400 - 700 nm
composition, planets, stars, galaxies
– Ultraviolet radiation: 10-6 - 10-9 m
interstellar medium, hot stars
– X rays: 10-8 - 10-12 m
stellar atmospheres, neutron stars, hot gases
– Gamma rays: 10-11 - <10-16 m
neutron stars, active galactic nuclei
J.E. Klemaszewski
Behind the Scenes
• Electron Transitions
– Produce visible & ultraviolet spectral-line features
• Molecular vibration changes
– produce infrared spectral features
• Molecular rotation changes
– Produce radio-wave spectral-line features
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Sun’s Structure
thickness (km)
density (g/cm3 )
• Core
15 Million K
200,000
150,000
300,000
15,000
200,000
150
• Radiation zone
7 Million K
• Convection zone
2 Million K
• Photosphere
5800 K
500
J.E. Klemaszewski
2x10 - 4
The Sun’s Atmosphere
thickness (km)
density (g/cm3 )
• Chromosphere
4500 K
1500
5x10 - 6
8500
2x10 - 1 0
millions
10- 1 2
• Transition Zone
8000 K
• Corona
1 Million K
• Solar wind
10- 2 3
2 Million K
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Sun’s Corona
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Corona and Solar Wind
Coronal holes
– Low-density (by ~10x)
regions, 10s to 100s of
thousands of km
across
– Magnetic field lines
extend far out into
space
– Permit escape of
matter, windows for
solar wind
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Corona and Solar Wind
• The Solar Wind
– Electromagnetic radiation
– Fast-moving (500 km/sec) charged particles
Protons, Electrons
• Output
– Transport of ~1 million tons of solar matter / second
– 4x1026 Watts (= 100 billion 1-megaton bomb / second)
– 1400 watts/m2 reaches Earth
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Ingredients:
– Solar wind
supplies charged particles
– Magnetic Field
accelerates charged particles
– Atmosphere
excited by charged particles
emit photons producing aurora
• Colors produced by type of atom or
molecule excited and path used to
return to ground st a t e
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury ?
• Jupiter
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter
• Venus ?
• Earth
• Mars
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter
• Venus - no….
• Earth ?
• Mars
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars ?
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter ?
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars - no….
Io ?
Europa ?
Ganymede ?
Callisto ?
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Jovian
Aurora
J.E. Klemaszewski
Io Aurora
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter - yes
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars - no
Io - yes
Europa - ? We’re looking
Ganymede - yes
Callisto - none detected
• Saturn ?
– Titan ?
• Uranus
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Saturnian
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aurora
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter - yes
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars - no
Io - yes
Europa - ? We’re looking
Ganymede - yes
Callisto - none detected
• Saturn - yes
– Titan - wait for Cassini
• Uranus ?
• Pluto
• Neptune
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter - yes
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars - no
Io - yes
Europa - ? We’re looking
Ganymede - yes
Callisto - none detected
• Saturn - yes
– Titan - wait for Cassini
• Uranus - yes
• Pluto
• Neptune ?
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter - yes
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
• Mars - no
Io - yes
Europa - ? We’re looking
Ganymede - yes
Callisto - none detected
• Saturn - yes
– Titan - wait for Cassini
• Uranus - yes
• Pluto - ?
• Neptune - yes
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aur or a e in the Solar System
• Mercury - no
• Jupiter - yes
–
–
–
–
• Venus - no
• Earth - yes
Io - yes
Europa - ? We’re looking
Ganymede - yes
Callisto - none detected
• Saturn - yes
• Mars - no
– Titan - wait for Cassini
• Uranus - yes
• Pluto - probably not
• Neptune - yes
J.E. Klemaszewski
The Earth
• Structure
• Composition
– Core
– Iron, Nickel, Sulfur
• Inner
• Outer
• Solid
• Liquid
– Mantle
– Crust
– Fe-, Mg-rich silicates
– Silicates, carbonates, etc.
– Atmosphere
– N2, O2, Ar, CO2, H2O, etc.
– Magnetosphere
• Van Allen belts
• Electrons (outer)
• Protons (inner)
J.E. Klemaszewski
Visible
Aurora
Images courtesy Jan Curti s
J.E. Klemaszewski
X-ray
Aurora
J.E. Klemaszewski
Jupiter
• Atmospheric Composi t i o n
– 86.1% H & 13.8% He
– methane, ammonia, water vapor
• Atmospheric Structu r e
– Gaseous upper atmosphere
– “Liquid mantle”
– High-density core
• Atmospheric Features
•
•
•
•
Bright zones and dark belts
Storms: Great Red Spot, White Ovals, etc.
Lightning
Auroral activity
• Magnetosphere
J.E. Klemaszewski
Aurora
• Occur when atmospheric molecules
are excited by incoming charged
particles which have accelerated by
a magnetosphere
• Generally occur near high latitudes,
near the north and south magneti c
poles
• Charged particles are continually
resupplied by the sun
• *Rates may vary
J.E. Klemaszewski