DPS 34th Meeting, October 2002
Session 40. Io
Oral, Chair(s): J.R. Spencer and P.M. Schenk, Friday, October 11, 2002, 8:45-10:15am, Room M

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[40.05] New Constraints on Io's Extended Oxygen Cloud

N.M. Schneider, M.H. Burger (CU/LASP), N Thomas (MPAE/Lindau)

Io's extended oxygen cloud is the primary escape route from Io and the main supply to the Io torus. Despite its importance in the Jupiter-Io system, the extended oxygen cloud has only been detected on three occasions with very limited spatial information. All modelling of atmospheric escape and supply to the torus must be normalized to this minimal dataset. We report new high spectral resolution observations with the ESO 3.5m New Technology Telescope, showing spatially-resolved [OI] 6300Å\ emission extending away from Io. We will present both observational results and preliminary modeling of the oxygen cloud, and compare with previous observations and models.

This work has been supported by NASA's Planetary Astronomy program.

If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is as follows:

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #3< br> © 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.