Observation by Chris Hooker: Io's sodium stream, 20th October 2023

Uploaded by

Chris Hooker

Observer

Chris Hooker

Observed

2023 Oct 20 - 21:30

Uploaded

2023 Oct 21 - 07:54

Objects

Jupiter

Equipment

254 mm F/6.3 Newtonian
0.45x imaging focal reducer
Sodium D-line filter
ZWO ASI174MM camera

Exposure

15 seconds

Location

Didcot, Oxfordshire

Target name

Io (Jupiter I)

Title

Io's sodium stream, 20th October 2023

About this image

An image of Jupiter and nearby moons (Io and Ganymede) captured through a sodium bandpass filter during a brief clear spell. The image is a stack of 36 15-second exposures, dark-fielded and slightly sharpened. A curved stream of sodium emission extends outward for at least eight Jovian radii from Io (the moon nearest Jupiter) to the north of Io's orbital plane. There is also a streak of emission extending inwards towards Jupiter which becomes lost in the glare of the planet.

The curved stream is generated by the interaction of Io's tenuous atmosphere with the plasma torus circulating around Jupiter, which is inclined at an angle of 7 degrees to the planet's rotation axis. Sodium atoms entrained in the stream absorb and re-emit sunlight making the stream visible.

Files associated with this observation

JupNa 20 Oct 23 1a crop.png (236.9 kB)

Like this image

David Strange, Mike Foulkes, Jeremy Shears, Bill Leatherbarrow, Peter Tickner, Mattia Piccoli, Tim Haymes, James Weightman, Dr Paul Leyland, Ron Johnson, Manolo_Rodriguez, Steve Knight

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