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C. A. Higgins (MTSU), J. D. Menietti (U. of Iowa), K. M. Klecker (MTSU)
The Galileo spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since 1995 and has completed 34 elliptical orbits near the equatorial plane. The high frequency receiver on the Galileo Plasma Wave Spectrometer (PWS) instrument gathers data in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 5.6 MHz. Data are collected over specific intervals of each of the orbits at nearly all local times and at radial distances from about 5-200 Jovian radii. Menietti et al. (1999, 2002) used 34 orbits of the Galileo spacecraft around Jupiter to study the effects of local time on the radio emission in the frequency range of 300 kHz to 5.6 MHz. They found that Jupiter's radio power flux is more intense and occurred more frequently when the spacecraft was near midnight local time. It is important to note, however, that the data are undersampled in the morning local time sector.
In this paper we analyze all 34 Galileo orbits and perform a local time study of Jupiter's radio emission using data averaging for each 10-hour Jovian rotation period. Results are best displayed as emission intensity versus local time and as emission probability of occurrence versus local time. All data are normalized to remove any any radial distance effects, and known Io-enhanced radio emissions are removed to avoid bias. The azimuthal characteristics of Jupiter's radio emissions near the equatorial plane are presented and discussed. This research is supported by NASA.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #3
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.