Chingford Foundation School students and Orbyts Fellow Bryn Parry from UCL Physics and Astronomy conducted a research project that investigated variations in Jupiter's aurora, specifically focusing on the X-ray emissions. The X-ray aurorae on Jupiter are formed when high-energy ions enter the atmosphere near the magnetic poles and collide with neutral atoms or molecules of gas in Jupiter’s atmosphere. These collisions generate X-rays through a process known as charge exchange (CX).

The students tested a model of the precipitating ions that was generated from data collected by the Juno-Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) onboard the orbiting Juno spacecraft. The model was tested against X-ray observations of the aurora from the orbiting XMM-Newton X-ray telescope. The study revealed that the model needed to change the oxygen abundance to fit the observed data. The oxygen abundance can change significantly from one rotation of Jupiter to another, which occurs in less than 10 hours.

By understanding the complex interplay between the precipitating ions and the Jovian magnetosphere, we can gain valuable insights into the fundamental processes that drive these phenomena. The students concluded that future work should delve into why oxygen abundance varies compared to other ion species and that higher X-ray count rates are required to improve the spectral and temporal resolution. This improvement would necessitate either an in-situ X-ray instrument or the development of a next-generation X-ray telescope!