Juno Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Remote Measurements of Magnetospheric Injection Dynamics in Jupiter's Io Torus Regions

In planetary magnetospheres, singly charged energetic particles, trapped by the planet's magnetic field, can steal electrons from cold gas atoms and become neutralized. These now energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), no longer confined by the magnetic field, can travel out of the system similar to photons leaving a hot oven. ENAs have been used to image magnetospheric processes at Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. At Jupiter, the opportunities to image the magnetosphere have been limited and always from the perspective of the near-equatorial plane at distance >139 RJ. The polar-orbiting Juno mission carries the Jupiter Energetic particle Detector Instrument that is serendipitously sensitive to ENAs with energies >50 keV, provided that there are no charged particles in the environment to mask their presence. Here we report on the first ENA observations of Jupiter's magnetosphere from a nonequatorial perspective. In this brief report we concentrate on emissions seen during Perijove 22 (PJ22) during very active conditions and compare them with emissions during the inactive Perijove 23 (PJ23). We observe, and discriminate between, distinct ENA signatures from the neutral gases occupying the orbit of Io (away from Io itself), the orbit of Europa (away from Europa), and from Jupiter itself. Strong ENA emissions from Io's orbit during PJ22 are associated with energetic particle injections observed near Io's orbit several hours earlier. Some injections occurred planetward of Io's L-shell (magnetic position), somewhat of a surprise given that injections are thought to be driven by outward transport of plasmas generated by Io. Plain Language Summary In the space environments of magnetized planets (magnetospheres), magnetic fields trap and confine energetic charged particles like protons and singly charged heavier ions. These ions can neutralize themselves by stealing electrons from cold gas atoms within the same environment. They become energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), and no longer confined by the magnetic field, can travel out of the system in a fashion similar to light leaving a hot oven. ENAs have been used to image magnetospheric processes at Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. At Jupiter, the opportunities to image the magnetosphere have been limited and always from the perspective of the near-equatorial plane at large distances (>139 RJ). The polar-orbiting Juno mission carries the Jupiter Energetic particle Detector Instrument that is serendipitously sensitive to ENAs with energies >50 keV, provided that there are no charged particles in the environment to mask their presence. Here we report on the first ENA observations of Jupiter's magnetosphere from a nonequatorial perspective. That perspective allows us to observe distinct ENA signatures from the neutral gases occupying the orbit of the moon Io (away from Io itself), the gases in the orbit of the moon Europa (away from Europa), and from Jupiter itself.