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Published July 10, 2022 | Published
Journal Article Open

First Measurements of Jovian Electrons by Parker Solar Probe/IS⊙IS within 0.5 au of the Sun

Abstract

Energetic electrons of Jovian origin have been observed for decades throughout the heliosphere, as far as 11 au, and as close as 0.5 au, from the Sun. The treatment of Jupiter as a continuously emitting point source of energetic electrons has made Jovian electrons a valuable tool in the study of energetic electron transport within the heliosphere. We present observations of Jovian electrons measured by the EPI-Hi instrument in the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe at distances within 0.5 au of the Sun. These are the closest measurements of Jovian electrons to the Sun, providing a new opportunity to study the propagation and transport of energetic electrons to the inner heliosphere. We also find periods of nominal connection between the spacecraft and Jupiter in which expected Jovian electron enhancements are absent. Several explanations for these absent events are explored, including stream interaction regions between Jupiter and Parker Solar Probe and the spacecraft lying on the opposite side of the heliospheric current sheet from Jupiter, both of which could impede the flow of the electrons. These observations provide an opportunity to gain a greater insight into electron transport through a previously unexplored region of the inner heliosphere.

Additional Information

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Received 2022 April 20; revised 2022 June 1; accepted 2022 June 2; published 2022 July 13. We acknowledge the support of NASA's Parker Solar Probe grant NNN06AA01C. We thank the Parker Solar Probe IS⊙IS, FIELDS, and SWEAP teams, including the engineers, technicians, administrators, and scientists, who developed the instruments used in this study. The IS⊙IS data and visualization tools are available to the community at https://spacephysics.princeton.edu/missions-instruments/isois; data are also available via the NASA Space Physics Data Facility (https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/). G.A.deN. acknowledges support from NASA program NNH19ZDA001N-LWS. The authors wish to acknowledge the reviewer for thoughtful comments that served to improve the manuscript and enhance the study.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023