Short‐Term Variability of Jupiter's Satellite Footprints as Spotted by JWST

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Abstract
We present the main Alfvén wing (MAW) spots of Io and Europa as observed by the Near‐Infrared Spectrograph onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. These auroral footprint features have been measured previously, but only in emission. Here, the derived ionospheric emission, temperature and column density are reported, as well as spectral radiance. At the Io footprint, temperatures are 670–900 K, excluding a spatially confined cold structure (538 17 K), localized to the MAW spot, with high densities (0.98 0.43 × ). There are suggestions of a similar, less extreme population associated with the Europa footprint. However, temperatures at Io's MAW spot show significant variability within different observational exposures, indicating precipitation energy changes, sampling various regions of the ionosphere's altitudinal temperature profile. This work provides a new window into understanding the auroral processes driven by moon‐magnetosphere interactions in the Jovian system.
Funding Information
  • Northumbria University
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/W001527/2)
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/W00089X/1)
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/X003426/1)
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/X508548/2)
  • Space Telescope Science Institute (NAS5‐03127)
  • Space Telescope Science Institute (JWST‐GO‐03665.002‐A)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC23K1637)
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/W002914/1)

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