A Search for Water Vapor Plumes on Europa using SOFIA
| Autor: | Melissa A. McGrath, Kevin P. Hand, William T. Reach, Harold A. Weaver, E. Montiel, N. Dello Russo, Curtis DeWitt, Matthew J. Richter, E. Bergeron, J. M. Grunsfeld, William B. Sparks |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) Water mass 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Rotational temperature Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics 01 natural sciences Plume Physics::Geophysics Impact crater Space and Planetary Science 0103 physical sciences Transit (astronomy) Emission spectrum Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Spectroscopy 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Water vapor Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| Popis: | We present mid-infrared SOFIA/EXES spectroscopy of Europa, seeking direct evidence of the presence of water vapor arising from plumes venting from the surface of Europa. We place quantitatively useful upper limits on the strength of water vibrational-rotational emission lines. Conversion to water mass limits is dependent on the rotational temperature of the vapor. For low rotational temperature, the limits lie below the inferred water mass from previous HST plume observations. For higher temperatures, the limits are comparable. We also present coordinated HST transit observations obtained close in time to the SOFIA observations. There is evidence for a feature close to the location of the previously seen feature north of the crater Pwyll in one of the HST images, although it was not observable by EXES given its location. We conclude that if a water plume had been active at the time of the SOFIA observation, with the strength implied by previous HST observations, then under the right Earth atmospheric and geometric conditions, the plume could have been detected by EXES, however no IR water vibrational-rotational emission was detected. Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters, Dec. 26, 2018 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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