Voyager 1 assessment of Jupiter's planetary magnetic field

Abstract

An estimate of Jupiter's planetary magnetic field is obtained from the Voyager 1 observations of the Jovian magnetosphere. An explicit model for the magnetodisc current system is combined with a spherical harmonic model of the planetary field with both sets of parameters determined simultaneously using a nonlinear generalized inverse methodology. The resulting model fits the observations extremely well throughout the analysis interval (r 20 Jovian radii). The Jovian internal field model obtained from the Voyager 1 data is very similar to the octopole Pioneer 11 models. The best fitting magnetodisc lies in the centrifugal equator, 2/3 of the way between the rotational and magnetic equators, as appropriate for centrifugal loading of the magnetosphere by a cold plasma