A Search for Magnesium in Europa's Atmosphere
- Creators
- Hörst, S. M.
-
Brown, M. E.
Abstract
Europa's tenuous atmosphere results from sputtering of the surface. The trace element composition of its atmosphere is therefore related to the composition of Europa's surface. Magnesium salts are often invoked to explain Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer spectra of Europa's surface, thus magnesium may be present in Europa's atmosphere. We have searched for magnesium emission in the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph archival spectra of Europa's atmosphere. Magnesium was not detected and we calculate an upper limit on the magnesium column abundance. This upper limit indicates that either Europa's surface is depleted in magnesium relative to sodium and potassium, or magnesium is not sputtered as efficiently resulting in a relative depletion in its atmosphere.
Additional Information
© 2013 American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 January 14; accepted 2013 January 26; published 2013 February 7. This work was initially supported by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the California Institute of Technology funded by a trust established by J. Edward Richter. S.M.H. is supported by NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship AST-1102827.Attached Files
Published - 2041-8205_764_2_L28.pdf
Submitted - 1301.6292.pdf
Files
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:880f1d3beaa2825837dade7c0574b878
|
165.6 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:6dd8018f1af879b417b17afc6700f562
|
230.0 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 37743
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130403-114922275
- Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
- NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship
- AST-1102827
- Created
-
2013-04-03Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)