HR: 0800h
AN: P31A-0969    [Abstracts]
TI: Europa's Alfv\'en Wing: Shrinking and Displacement by an Induced Magnetic Field
AU: Volwerk, M
EM: martin.volwerk@oeaw.ac.at
AF: Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6, Graz, 8042 Austria
AU: Volwerk, M
EM: martin.volwerk@oeaw.ac.at
AF: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Postfach 1312, Garching, 85741 Germany
AU: Khurana, K K
EM: kkhurana@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, P.O.Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: * Kivelson, M G
EM: mkivelson@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, P.O.Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: * Kivelson, M G
EM: mkivelson@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA, P.O.Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AB: An Alfv\'en wing (AW) is created by the interaction of a conducting body with a flowing magnetized plasma. In this presentation we investigate the AW created by the moon Europa in the Jovian magentosphere. During its 7 years of duty the Galileo spacecraft has visited Europa 11 times, out of which 4 flybys were crossing the Europan AW. We have studied the properties of the AW using the magnetic field data, with the moon embedded in different background magnetic field and plasma parameters. We have found the predicted shrinking and displacement of the AW by the induced magentic field in Europa. We also show that the characteristics of the AW can be used to get information about the local plasma parameters.
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
DE: 6218 Jovian satellites
DE: 2732 Magnetosphere interactions with satellites and rings
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting