Emission profiles of neutral oxygen and sulfur in Io's exospheric corona

Abstract

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) observations of Io acquired in 1997 [Roesler et al., 1999] provided the first simultaneous spatially resolved measurements of emission from neutral sulfur and oxygen, the dominant atomic species in Io's exospheric corona. Previous measurements of Io's corona relied primarily on sunlight resonantly scattered from sodium, a trace element in Io's atmosphere, and required measurement during mutual satellite eclipses to obtain the necessary spatial resolution. We present here spatial profiles of Io's extended emissions derived from observations spanning the time period from October 1997 to February 2000. The STIS Far Ultraviolet Multi‐Anode Microchannel Array (FUV‐MAMA) detector permits measurement of the emissions with a spatial resolution of ∼0.05 Io radii out to distances of ∼20 Io radii. Useful measurements are limited to ∼10 Io radii owing to the low signal‐to‐noise ratio of the extended emission features. The coronal emission profiles vary considerably in slope and intensity and are generally brighter for Io west (duskside) of Jupiter. Emission profiles obtained near western elongation are relatively symmetric about Io; profiles obtained in other orbital positions display varying degrees of asymmetry, with enhanced emissions and generally steeper slopes in the downstream direction relative to the plasma flow. The downstream‐upstream profile asymmetry is thought to be caused by higher electron densities in Io's plasma wake. While the coverage of the data is limited in both Jovian System III coordinates and geocentric phase, the intensities of emission from regions both near Io and in the extended corona vary with System III longitude in a near‐simultaneous fashion, suggesting local torus electron density as the probable source of this modulation. The observed ratio of oxygen to sulfur emission is relatively constant in time, perhaps reflecting the stoichiometric ratio of the SO2 source molecules. Eclipse and posteclipse observations on February 25, 2000, show a dramatic increase in profile emission brightness and slope, suggesting a dynamic response by a sublimation‐supported component of Io's SO2 atmosphere and associated atomic species.