Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é the Project
STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship: Illuminating Solar-Planetary Interactions
This project investigated how the Sun affects the space environments of the planets Jupiter and Saturn by studying their aurora. The aurorae are nature’s light show: dancing displays of light near the planet’s northern and southern magnetic poles, caused by charged particles crashing into the atmosphere. Known as the northern and southern lights on Earth, these brilliant emissions have fascinated humans throughout history. The aurora reveals the transfer of energy from the Sun, through the stream of solar particles through the solar system, to the planet’s local environment. The aurora also reveals how the planet connects with its moons, such as Io and Ganymede at Jupiter, and Enceladus at Saturn. This project studied aurora at the outer planets in detail using two space missions: the Cassini Solstice Mission at Saturn and the Juno mission at Jupiter. These spacecraft flew low over their planet’s polar regions, simultaneously taking images of the aurora and measuring their presence in the magnetic field and the charged particles above the atmosphere.
RAS Research Fellowship: Planetary magnetospheres
This research programme aimed to discover the control that a planet’s magnetic field exerts on its magnetospheric dynamics, by probing the different environments of Jupiter and Saturn. It investigated magnetospheric processes driven internally by the planet’s magnetic field and its rotation, and those driven externally through the interaction with the surrounding solar wind. The balance between internally- and externally-driven dynamics concerns the fundamental transfer of energy and momentum through the solar system, from the Sun to planetary atmospheres. It is intrinsic to understanding our local space environment, and leads to discovery and understanding of planetary systems beyond our solar system. Observations of Jupiter show how changes in the inner plasma environment affect the dynamics of its vast magnetosphere and how these are reflected in the auroral emissions from the planet’s polar regions. In situ and remote sensing observations of Saturn’s magnetic field, plasma, and aurora indicate where and how much energy is transferred from the solar wind.