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C. Grava

Publications and source records attributed to C. Grava.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Europa's Lyman-$\alpha$ emissions from HST/STIS observations

An image of Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) emission from Europa obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) has previously provided the first evidence of localized water vapor (H$_2$O) aurora, potentially originating from outgassing. Subsequent STIS observations have revealed the presence of a global atomic hydrogen (H) exosphere. We present a comprehensive analysis of STIS Ly$\alpha$ observations of Europa acquired in 1999 and between 2012 and 2020 to search for localized auroral emissions and constrain the properties of Europa's H exosphere. We analyze the complete dataset of STIS observations obtained when Europa was sunlit and not transiting Jupiter. A forward model is constructed to account for all known sources of Ly$\alpha$ emission, including resonantly scattered sunlight from Europa's H exosphere. To identify localized anomalies, such as H$_2$O aurora, the modeled Ly$\alpha$ emission is subtracted and the residuals are examined. Emission from Europa's H exosphere is detected at all observing epochs, but is attenuated by absorption in Earth's exosphere when Europa's radial velocity relative to Earth (and thus the Doppler shift) is small. From the velocity dependence of this attenuation, we estimate an H-exosphere temperature of $\sim 1000$ K and derive an upper limit of 5100 K. For the best-constrained epoch in 2014--2015, we infer a vertical H column density of $1.4x10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$ and an H source rate of $1.1x10^{27}$ s$^{-1}$. No localized emission enhancements are detected in any of the observations, including the image previously interpreted as evidence of H$_2$O aurora near Europa's south pole. The discrepancy with earlier results arises primarily from differences in the assumed position of Europa's disk on the detector, as well as from the inclusion of an H-exosphere signal in the present analysis...

astro-ph.EP

Investigating Mercury's Environment with the Two-Spacecraft BepiColombo Mission

The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with the solar wind, radiation, and interplanetary dust. Many scientific instruments onboard the two spacecraft will be completely, or partially devoted to study the near-space environment of Mercury as well as the complex processes that govern it. Many issues remain unsolved even after the MESSENGER mission that ended in 2015. The specific orbits of the two spacecraft, MPO and Mio, and the comprehensive scientific payload allow a wider range of scientific questions to be addressed than those that could be achieved by the individual instruments acting alone, or by previous missions. These joint observations are of key importance because many phenomena in Mercury's environment are highly temporally and spatially variable. Examples of possible coordinated observations are described in this article, analysing the required geometrical conditions, pointing, resolutions and operation timing of different BepiColombo instruments sensors.

astro-ph.EP