Jupiter is well known for its spectacular aurorae, thanks in no small part to the Juno orbiter and recent images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
In the case of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, the oxygen content of their atmospheres is due to photolysis, a process where water ice sublimates and is broken down by solar radiation into its hydrogen gas and oxygen. In Io's case, the oxygen is caused by sulfur dioxide interacting with solar radiation to form sulfur monoxide and elemental oxygen.
Because of Io's volcanic activity, salts like sodium chloride and potassium chloride are also present in the atmosphere, where they are also broken down by solar radiation. This leads to aurorae on Io emitting a yellow-orange glow and glowing in the infrared . All three moons are theorized to have interior oceans beneath their icy surfaces, and there's even some tentative evidence that water vapor in Europa's atmosphere may result from plume activity. These plumes are thought to be connected toThe observations also showed how Jupiter's tilted magnetic field causes aurorae to vary in brightness as the gas giant rotates.
"Io's sodium becomes very faint within 15 minutes of entering Jupiter's shadow, but it takes several hours to recover after it emerges into sunlight. These new characteristics are really insightful for understanding Io's atmospheric chemistry. It's neat that eclipses by Jupiter offer a natural experiment to learn how sunlight affects its atmosphere."
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