Moon-Magnetosphere Interactions at Jupiter and Saturn
When
Where
Dr. Carol Paty
Associate Professor
Georgia Institute of Technology
The magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are incredibly dynamic despite their distal locations from the sun. They are also quite different from the Earth’s magnetosphere in that each posses a volcanically active moon that provides a continuous source of material to the inner magnetosphere. At Saturn, Enceladus was discovered to have a plume of material emanating from fractures at the southern polar cap which supplies the material for Saturn’s E ring as well as an extended neutral cloud. Jupiter’s volcanically active moon, Io, provides over a ton of ionized material per second to the magnetosphere. In this talk I will explore both the global and local interactions of icy moons with gas giant magnetospheres. Specifically, the global influence small moons can have on large magnetospheres will be discussed, along with how these effects are observed and characterized. I will also examine the interaction of icy moons with the local flow of magnetized plasma and detail how we can use the large-scale magnetosphere to probe the interiors of these moons in the context of the Galileo Mission and the upcoming Europa Mission.