Abstract
We assume that typical interplanetary grains are fragile, aggregates of the Brownlee type, and discuss the physical and dynamical processes associated with their entry into the Jovian magnetosphere. Limiting ourselves to the equatorial plane of the planet, we show that grains traversing the outer edge of the co-rotating magnetodisc (r≈35R J ) are rapidly charged up to large negative potentials on both the day and the night sides. A parent grain of radiusR g ≈20μ is electrostatically disrupted when it attains a potential of about −220 V. While the eventual potential achieved by the smallest fragments (R g ≈0.1 μ) are controlled by the rapid field emission of electrons, those of the larger fragments (R g ≈1 μ) are set by the plasma and photoemission currents.
All the negatively charged fragments are strongly attracted towards the planet by the (radial) corotational electric field and some are stably trapped. We suggest that the sudden enhancement by about 2 orders of magnitude of the interplanetary dust flux measured by Pioneer 10, at about 30R J from Jupiter result from the combination of these two effects.
The different brightness asymmetries between the leading and the trailing sides of the outer and inner Galilean satellites appear to be a natural consequence of the way the trajectories of these charged dust grains intersect these satellite surfaces. Finally, the similarity in the brightness asymmetries between the Jovian and Saturnian satellites, and our belief that they have a similar cause, leads us to the expectation that Saturn's magnetic momentM and spin Ω, are parallel as in the case of Jupiter, with the limit of plasma co-rotation lying between the satellites Rhea and Iapetus.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brownlee, D. E., Tomandl, D., Blanchard, M. D., Ferry, G. V., and Kyte, F.: 1976,NASA TMX-73 152.
DeForest, S. E.: 1972,J. Geophys. Res 77 651.
Draine, B. T. and Salpeter, E. E.: 1979,Astrophys. J. (in press).
Eviatar, A., Mekler, Y., and Coroniti, F. V.: 1976,Astrophys. J 205, 622.
Fechtig, H., Grun, E., and Morfill, G.: 1978, paper read at theXXIth Plenary Meeting of COSPAR, Innsbruck, Austria (June 1978). To appear in the Proceedings, Pergamon Press.
Feuerbacher, R. and Fitton, B.: 1972,J. Appl. Phys. 43, 1563.
Fillius, R. W. and McIlwain, C. E.: 1974,Science 183, 314.
Fillius, R. W., McIlwain, C. E. and Mogro-Camparo, A., 1975,Science 188, 465.
Frank, L. A., Ackerson, K. L., Wolfe, T. H., and Mihalov, J. D.: 1976,J. Geophys. Res. 81, 457.
Hill, J. R. and Mendis, D. A., 1979, Paper II (under preparation).
Hill, T. W., Dessler, A. J., and Michel, F. C.: 1974,Geophys. Res. Lett. 1, 3.
Hinteregger, H. E., Damon, K. R., and Hall, L. A., 1959,J. Geophys. Res. 64, 961.
Humes, D. H., Alverez, J. M., Kinard, W. H., and O'Neal, R. L., 1975,Science 188, 473.
Mendis, D. A.: 1978, paper read at theXXIth Plenary Meeting of COSPAR, Innsburck, Austria (June, 1978). To appear in the Proceedings, Pergamon Press.
Mendis, D. A. and Axford, W. I.: 1974,Ann. Rev. Earth and Planet. Sci. 2, 419.
Öpik, E. J.: 1956,Irish Astron. J. 4, 84.
Prakash, A. and Brice, N.: 1975,The Magnetosphere of the Earth and Jupiter (V. Formisano (ed.)), D. Reidel Pub. Co., p. 411.
Rawer, K.: 1963,Radio Astronomical and Satellite Studies of the Atmosphere (J. Aarons (ed.)), North Holland Pub. Co., p. 385.
Rhee, J. W.: 1976,Interplanetary Dust and Zodiacal Light, Springer-Verlag, p. 238.
Simpson, J. A., Hamilton, D., Lentz, G., McKibben, R. B., Mogro-Campero, A., Perkins, M., Pyle, K. R., and Tuzzolino, A. J.: 1974,Science 183, 306.
Smith, E. J., Davis, L., Jr., Jones, D. E., Colburn, D. S., Coleman, P. J., Jr., Dyal, P., and Sonett, C. P.: 1974,Science 183 305.
Trainor, J. H., McDonald, F. B., Teegarden, B. J., Webber, W. B., and Roelof, E. C.: 1974,J. Geophys Res. 79, 360.
Trainor, J. H., Teegarden, B. J., Stilwell, D. E., McDonald, F. B., Roelof, E. C., and Weber, W. R.: 1974,Science 183, 311.
Van Allen, J. A., Baker, D. N., Randall, B. A., Thomsen, M. F., Sentman, D. D., and Flindt, H. R.: 1974,Science 183, 309.
Van Allen, J. A., Randall, B. A., Baker, D. N., Goertz, C. K., Sentman, D. D., Thomsen, M. F., and Flindt, H. R.: 1975,Science 188, 459.
Whipple, E. C., Jr., 1965,NASA-CSFC preprint No. X-615-65-296.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, J.R., Mendis, D.A. Charged dust in the outer planetary magnetospheres. The Moon and the Planets 21, 3–16 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00897050
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00897050