The Optical Aurorae of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto

TL;DR

This study reports the first optical auroral detections of Ganymede and Callisto, and new lines at Europa, revealing their atmospheres are mainly composed of O2 with possible water vapor presence, based on observations spanning over two decades.

Contribution

First detection of optical aurorae at Ganymede and Callisto, and new auroral lines at Europa, providing insights into their atmospheric composition and processes.

Findings

Europa and Ganymede atmospheres are mainly O2 with specific column densities.

Weak evidence suggests presence of H2O in Europa's atmosphere.

Callisto's O2 column density estimated with uncertain electron density.

Abstract

The tenuous atmospheres of the Galilean satellites are sourced from their surfaces and produced by a combination of plasma-surface interactions and thermal processes. Though thin, these atmospheres can be studied via their auroral emissions, and most work to date has focused on their aurora at UV wavelengths. Here we present the first detections of Ganymede's and Callisto's optical aurorae, as well detections of new optical auroral lines at Europa, based on observations of the targets over ten Jupiter eclipses from 1998 to 2021 with Keck/HIRES. We present measurements of OI emission at 6300/6364, 5577, 7774, and 8446 A and place upper limits on hydrogen at 6563 A. These constitute the first detections of emissions at 7774 and 8446 A at a planetary body other than Earth. The simultaneous measurement of multiple emission lines provides robust constraints on atmospheric composition. We find that the eclipse atmospheres of Europa and Ganymede are composed predominantly of O2 with average column densities of (4.1 \pm 0.1) x 10^{14} cm^{-2} and (4.7 \pm 0.1) x 10^{14} cm^{-2}, respectively. We find weak evidence for H2O in Europa's bulk atmosphere at an H2O/O2 ratio of $\sim$0.25, and place only an upper limit on H2O in Ganymede's bulk atmosphere, corresponding to H2O/O2 < 0.6. The column density of O2 derived for Callisto is (4.0 \pm 0.9 x 10^{15} cm^{-2} for an assumed electron density of 0.15 cm^{-3}, but electron properties at Callisto's orbit are very poorly constrained.