Investigating Magnetism Around Ganymede In Natural Environments
A group project for Lancaster University Astrophysics, studying the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Ganymede, and their effect on one another.
The Jovian system has large amounts of magnetic interaction. One of the most unusual is its largest moon, Ganymede. Situating itself at 15 Jupiter radii away from Jupiter, Ganymede produces a magnetic field. We aimed to investigate the magnetic interactions between Jupiter and Ganymede, using data from the Galileo spacecraft’s many flybys. Firstly, by finding the magnetic field strength of Ganymede on May 2000, at the equator and the poles, then sorting through any discrepancies in the magnetic field due to the measurements being situated on the day side (facing the Sun) and night side (facing away from the Sun) of the moon. Next, the results would be compared to a simulation written in python of the magnetic field of Ganymede at the surface. We will then explore electron and ion interactions in Ganymede’s magnetic field due to Jupiter’s plasma interactions through raw Nasa data. We found the magnetic field strength of Ganymede to be 700 ± 20 nT at the equator, 2.67σ away from the expected value of 820 ± 40 nT, and 1670 ± 90 nT at the poles, 2σ away from the expected value of 1400 ± 100 nT (confirmed by our simulations of the magnetic field at the poles). It was also proven that there are some discrepancies due to the day side and night side of the moon, producing magnetic field strengths of 99 ± 1 nT and 110.09 ± 0.9 nT respectively. We also found spikes in electron and ion energies on dates of plasma interactions, producing electron fluxes of 227.5 ± 0.5 cm−3 on 06/09/1996, and 13.79 ± 0.5 cm−3 on 05/04/1995. These observations demonstrate a clear magnetic field on Ganymede.