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Summary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2016
Extract
Professor G. R. A. Ellis reviewed the wide range of radio emission from Jupiter. At centimetric wavelengths the thermal radiation corresponds to a blackbody at 130K. Between 2 m and 10 cm wavelength there is a powerful component of synchrotron radiation from the electrons trapped in the radiation belts. At longer wavelengths there is a great variety of impulsive radio emission from coherent plasma oscillations.
The magnetic field of Jupiter is known from the polarisation of the synchrotron radiation to be situated centrally (within one tenth of the radius) and inclined at 10° to the rotation axis. The radiating electrons have energies of the order of 10 MeV, and a density of 10”-3 cm-3, much greater than in the case of the Earth’s radiation belts.
The decametric radiation varies with the rotation of Jupiter, possibly analogously to pulsar radiation. Bursts at around 4 MHz reach very high brightness temperatures, exceeding 1017 K. The occurrence of these strong bursts is closely related to the position of the Jovian satellite Io, which must have an interaction with the main magnetic field.
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- Copyright © Reidel 1974