2026/03/03 by Katie Knowles, Henrik Melin, T. S. Stallard +8 · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Planetary Science and Exploration
paper · doi:10.1029/2025gl118553
openalex publication_date 2026/03/03 · openalex created_date 2026/03/09 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
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.