"Rendezvous at Jupiter"

IMAGE: JOHN SPENCER (LOWELL OBSERVATORY) AND JOHN CLARKE

During the first few days of 2001, the Cassini spacecraft hurtled past Jupiter, temporarily joining its sister probe Galileo in orbit around the gas giant. This brief conjunction of two well-instrumented probes, complemented by simultaneous observations from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, provided an unprecedented opportunity for the intimate study of the Solar System's largest planet.

The most striking results from this coordinated observing campaign are described in this week's Nature in seven Letters and an accompanying News and Views article, which we are making fully and freely available online. Between them, these papers paint a dramatic picture of the complex interactions between Jupiter's gargantuan magnetosphere, the solar wind, the moons Io, Ganymede and Europa, and the giant planet itself.

Cassini has since flown on towards its ultimate destination, Saturn, where it is due to arrive in 2004. Galileo remains in orbit about Jupiter but is now running low on fuel; late next year, after completing a highly successful 8-year observational programme of Jupiter and its moons, it will make the ultimate sacrifice and descend into the planet's atmosphere.

Featured articles

Control of Jupiter's radio emission and aurorae by the solar wind
D. A. GURNETT, W. S. KURTH, G. B. HOSPODARSKY, A. M. PERSOON, P. ZARKA, A. LECACHEUX, S. J. BOLTON, M. D. DESCH, W. M. FARRELL, M. L. KAISER, H.-P. LADREITER, H. O. RUCKER, P. GALOPEAU, P. LOUARN, D. T. YOUNG, W. R. PRYOR & M. K. DOUGHERTY
Nature 415, 985–987 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (408 K) |

Ultra-relativistic electrons in Jupiter's radiation belts
S. J. BOLTON, M. JANSSEN, R. THORNE, S. LEVIN, M. KLEIN, S. GULKIS, T. BASTIAN, R. SAULT, C. ELACHI, M. HOFSTADTER, A. BUNKER, G. DULK, E. GUDIM, G. HAMILTON, W. T. K. JOHNSON, Y. LEBLANC, O. LIEPACK, R. MCLEOD, J. ROLLER, L. ROTH & R. WEST
Nature 415, 987–991 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (404 K) |

The dusk flank of Jupiter's magnetosphere
W. S. KURTH, D. A. GURNETT, G. B. HOSPODARSKY, W. M. FARRELL, A. ROUX, M. K. DOUGHERTY, S. P. JOY, M. G. KIVELSON, R. J. WALKER, F. J. CRARY & C. J. ALEXANDER
Nature 415, 991–994 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (520 K) |

A nebula of gases from Io surrounding Jupiter
STAMATIOS M. KRIMIGIS, DONALD G. MITCHELL, DOUGLAS C. HAMILTON, JANNIS DANDOURAS, THOMAS P. ARMSTRONG, SCOTT J. BOLTON, ANDREW F. CHENG, GEORGE GLOECKLER, K. C. HSIEH, EDWIN P. KEATH, NORBERT KRUPP, ANDREAS LAGG, LOUIS J. LANZEROTTI, STEFANO LIVI, BARRY H. MAUK, RICHARD W. MCENTIRE, EDMOND C. ROELOF, BEREND WILKEN & DONALD J. WILLIAMS
Nature 415, 994–996 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (228 K) |

Ultraviolet emissions from the magnetic footprints of Io, Ganymede and Europa on Jupiter
J. T. CLARKE, J. AJELLO, G. BALLESTER, L. BEN JAFFEL, J. CONNERNEY, J.-C. GÉRARD, G. R. GLADSTONE, D. GRODENT, W. PRYOR, J. TRAUGER, J. H. WAITE & JR
Nature 415, 997–1000 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (551 K) |

A pulsating auroral X-ray hot spot on Jupiter
G. R. GLADSTONE, J. H. WAITE, JR D. GRODENT, W. S. LEWIS, F. J. CRARY, R. F. ELSNER, M. C. WEISSKOPF, T. MAJEED, J.-M. JAHN, A. BHARDWAJ, J. T. CLARKE, D. T. YOUNG, M. K. DOUGHERTY, S. A. ESPINOSA & T. E. CRAVENS
Nature 415, 1000–1003 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (409 K) |

Transient aurora on Jupiter from injections of magnetospheric electrons
B. H. MAUK, J. T. CLARKE, D. GRODENT, J. H. WAITE, JR C. P. PARANICAS & D. J. WILLIAMS
Nature 415, 1003–1005 (28 February 2002)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (232 K) |

Planetary science: Magnetic moments at Jupiter
THOMAS W. HILL
The coming together of two spacecraft near Jupiter provided a unique opportunity to investigate the giant planet's magnetic field — and the results, collected in this issue, are stunning.
Nature 415, 965–966 (28 February 2002)
| Full Text | PDF (128 K) |

Spacecraft rendezvous at Jupiter
Two space probes lift the lid on Jupiter's magnetosphere.

Related links

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/