Abstract
In September 2022, the Juno spacecraft flew by Europa, providing new insight into the electron pitch angle and energy distributions via the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment electron analyzers (JADE-E). We fit these observations with two anisotropic kappa distributions (cold and hot), accounting for spacecraft potential, which we find to be between −10 V and −18 V, indicating that dust grains near Europa's orbit are similarly charged. We find these distributions to be non-Maxwellian and often anisotropic, exhibiting substructure with ∼20 km spatial resolution, providing a database of reaction rates near Europa. We further provide constraints on the emission of UV photons from electrons impacts, finding near constant 1,356 (Formula presented.) /1,304 (Formula presented.) line ratios from (Formula presented.), (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.). The electron beams, wake, and upstream/downstream regions all exhibit distinct characteristics across density, temperature, anisotropy, and thermodynamic (Formula presented.), illuminating the complexity of Europa's magnetospheric interaction.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e2025GL120837 |
| Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 28 2026 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Geophysics
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
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