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Jupiter’s Synchrotron Radiation Throughout the Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

I. de Pater ,
C. Heiles ,
M. Wong ,
R.J. Maddalena ,
M.K. Bird ,
O. Funke ,
J. Neidhoefer ,
R.M. Price ,
M. Kesteven  and
M. Calabretta
...Show all authors
M. Wong
Affiliation:
(U. California, Berkeley, USA)
R.J. Maddalena
Affiliation:
(NRAO, Green Bank, USA)
O. Funke
Affiliation:
(U. Bonn, Germany)
J. Neidhoefer
Affiliation:
(MPI für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany)
M. Calabretta
Affiliation:
(CSIRO, Australia)
S.J. Bolton
Affiliation:
(JPL, Pasadena, USA)
M. Robison
Affiliation:
(Netherlands Foundation Radio Astronomy, Dwingelo, The Netherlands)

Extract

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Jupiter’s microwave emission was observed throughout the SL9 impact period by many different telescopes, among which the NRAO 140-foot telescope in Green Bank (21 cm), Westerbork (92 cm), Effelsberg (6, 11 cm), Parkes (21 cm), NASA DSN (13 cm), and the Very Large Array (22, 90 cm). We determined the “average” total nonthermal flux density from the planet after having subtracted the thermal contribution, following the formulation by de Pater and Klein, (1989) and Klein et al., (1989). The flux density increased typically by 40-50% at 6 cm wavelength, 27% at 11-13 cm, 22%at 21 cm and 10-15% at 90 cm. Thus the radio spectrum hardened considerably during the week of cometary impacts. Following the week of cometary impacts, the flux density began to subside at all wavelength.

VLA images show the brightness distribution of the planet; a comparison of images taken before and during the week of impacts show marked changes in the brightness distribution. At a central meridian longitude λIII≈ 110°, the left side of the belts increased considerably and moved inwards by ~ 0.2 RJ. This suggests that the increase in flux density is caused by energization of the resident particle population.

Type
III. Special Sessions
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 10: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XXIInd General Assembly of the IAU, 1994 , 1995 , pp. 637 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1995

References

de Pater, I., and M.J., Klein, 1989, in Time Variable Phenomena in the Jovian System, Beiton, M.S. et al. (eds) p. 139–150.Google Scholar
Klein, M.J., Thompson, T.J., and Bolton, S., 1989, in Time-variable phenomena in the Jovian system, Belton, M.S. et al. (eds), NASA SP-494, 151–155.Google Scholar