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Detailed Reference Information |
Sandel, B.R., Herbert, F., Dessler, A.J. and Hill, T.W. (1990). Aurora and airglow on the night side of Neptune. Geophysical Research Letters 17: doi: 10.1029/90GL01813. issn: 0094-8276. |
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We have examined the latitude-longitude distribution of emissions detected by the Voyager ultraviolet spectrometer on the dark hemisphere of Neptune. The emissions have two significant geographic features: (1) a broad peak near longitude 60¿ W that extends rather uniformly over the entire range of observed latitudes (55¿ S to 50¿ N; and (2) a brighter, narrower peak near the south pole and 240¿ W. We interpret the first peak as due to excitation of the night side atmosphere by photoelectrons from the magnetically conjugate, sunlit atmosphere. The second peak can plausibly be attributed to a southern aurora; the field geometry would then seem to require a conjugate (and probably brighter) northern aurora that escaped detection poleward of the latitude range sampled by the UVS data. The power for such an aurora could be extracted from Neptune's rotation by the injection of plasma at Triton's orbit at a rate dm/dt~1 kg/s. |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Planetology, Fluid Planets, Ionospheres |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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