. 24/7 Space News .
Alice Views Jupiter And Io

Breakout of the full image. For the full image please go here
by Staff Writers
Laurel MA (SPX) Mar 21, 2007
This graphic illustrates the pointing and shows the data from one of many observations made by the New Horizons Alice ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) instrument during the Pluto-bound spacecraft's recent encounter with Jupiter. The red lines in the graphic show the scale, orientation, and position of the combined "box and slot" field of view of the Alice UVS during this observation.

The positions of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, the torus of ionized gas from Io, and Jupiter are shown relative to the Alice field of view. Like a prism, the spectrometer separates light from these targets into its constituent wavelengths.

"These ultraviolet datasets are spectacular, simply spectacular," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute, who also serves as PI of the Alice instrument. "The team is ecstatic over the richness of the spectral data and what that promises to reveal about Io's complex relationship with Jupiter."

Dr. Kurt Retherford, New Horizons science team collaborator from the Southwest Research Institute, said, "The Alice team aimed the instrument's field of view to simultaneously obtain spectra of three major targets in the Jupiter system: the moon Io, the ionized gas torus Io creates around Jupiter, and Jupiter itself."

Io's volcanoes produce an extremely tenuous atmosphere made up primarily of sulfur dioxide gas, which, in the harsh plasma environment at Io, breaks down into its component sulfur and oxygen atoms. Alice observed the auroral glow from these atoms in Io's atmosphere and their ionized counterparts in the Io torus.

"This UV observation of Io surpasses those from all previous spacecraft to visit Jupiter in terms of signal quality and wavelength coverage, and this is only the first of roughly 80 such spectra to be downlinked to Earth," said Retherford. "The Alice observations of Jupiter's upper atmosphere can tell us much about the concentrations of gases there."

Email This Article

Related Links
Download PDF version of graphic
Lost Among A Million Outer Planets



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


A Look From LEISA
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 20, 2007
On February 24, 2007, the LEISA (pronounced "Leesa") infrared spectral imager in the New Horizons Ralph instrument observed giant Jupiter in 250 narrow spectral channels. At the time the spacecraft was 6 million kilometers (nearly 4 million miles) from Jupiter; at that range, the LEISA imager can resolve structures about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across.







  • Dr. Charles Simonyi To Take Gourmet Meal To Space
  • European Astronauts In Rome For The 50th Anniversary Of The Rome Treaties
  • Flying A Flag
  • US-Russian Space Tensions Increase

  • NASA Scientists And Teachers To Study Mars In The Mojave Desert
  • Spirit Loses And Then Re-Establishes Contact with Orbiter
  • Express Logic Plays Key Role In Managing MRO Data From Red Planet
  • Opportunity Conducts Imaging And Diagnostics

  • Next Ariane 5 Takes Shape
  • Canadian Satellite Given Final Checks At Russian Launch Pad
  • Official Opening Of The Soyuz Launch Base Construction Site In French Guiana
  • First Ariane 5 Launch Of 2007 Finally Gets Away

  • GeoEye Acquires Leading Aerial Imagery Provider From GE Oil And Gas
  • Take A Closer Look At Our Planet At The Palais De La Decouverte In Paris
  • Global Sunscreen Has Likely Thinned
  • Airborne Science In The Classroom The Next-Best Thing To Being There

  • Alice Views Jupiter And Io
  • A Look From LEISA
  • Smash And Grab On The Edge Of Sol Billions Of Year Ago
  • Jupiter Play Back Begins As Downlink Initiated From New Horizons

  • Most Energetic Form Of Light Can Be Produced In Areas Dominated By Bright Young Stars
  • The Magnetic Fields of Planets and Stars
  • Fundamental Property Of Galaxy Evolution Discovered At Observatory
  • Science Team Shows Light Is Made Of Particles And Waves

  • China Bans Firm From Selling Land On The Moon
  • What Lies Beneath
  • China May Launch First Lunar Probe Satellite In September
  • Shooting Marbles At Four Miles A Second

  • Spanish Firms Want To Respect Galileo Accords
  • Trimble Introduces Mini GPS Clock for Precise Timing
  • GPS Sneakers Soon To Hit Retail Stores
  • Trimble's Tiny Surface Mount GPS Receiver Adds WAAS And EGNOS Capability

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement