Weigt, DM;
Dunn, WR;
Jackman, CM;
Kraft, R;
Branduardi-Raymont, G;
Nichols, JD;
Wibisono, AD;
... Gladstone, GR; + view all
(2021)
Searching for Saturn’s X-rays during a rare Jupiter Magnetotail Crossing using Chandra.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 506
(1)
pp. 298-305.
10.1093/mnras/stab1680.
Preview |
Text
Branduardi Raymont_stab1680_VoR.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Every 19 years, Saturn passes through Jupiter’s ‘flapping’ magnetotail. Here, we report Chandra X-ray observations of Saturn planned to coincide with this rare planetary alignment and to analyse Saturn’s magnetospheric response when transitioning to this unique parameter space. We analyse three Director’s Discretionary Time (DDT) observations from the High Resolution Camera (HRC-I) on-board Chandra, taken on November 19, 21 and 23 2020 with the aim to find auroral and/or disk emissions. We infer the conditions in the kronian system by looking at coincident soft X-ray solar flux data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of Saturn’s ultraviolet (UV) auroral emissions. The large Saturn-Sun-Earth angle during this time would mean that most flares from the Earth-facing side of the Sun would not have impacted Saturn. We find no significant detection of Saturn’s disk or auroral emissions in any of our observations. We calculate the 3σ upper band energy flux of Saturn during this time to be 0.9 - 3.04 × 10−14 erg cm−2 s−1 which agrees with fluxes found from previous modelled spectra of the disk emissions. We conclude by discussing the implications of this non-detection and how it is imperative that the next fleet of X-ray telescope (such as Athena and the Lynx mission concept) continue to observe Saturn with their improved spatial and spectral resolution and very enhanced sensitivity to help us finally solve the mysteries behind Saturn’s apparently elusive X-ray aurora.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Searching for Saturn’s X-rays during a rare Jupiter Magnetotail Crossing using Chandra |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stab1680 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1680 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10130406 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
