Isolating the 130.4 nm and 135.6 nm emissions in Ganymede’s aurora using broadband optics

Abstract

We discuss a technique for isolating the two main Far Ultraviolet emission lines in Ganymede’s aurora by adding flight proven transmission filters to a broad- band, wide-field imager design. We find that the ra- tio of OI emissions at 135.6 nm and 130.4 nm can be recovered if the transmission of the filters and other optical elements are well known. This ratio allows constraints to be placed on the relative abundances of O atoms and O2 molecules within Ganymede’s at- mosphere, leading to more accurate models of atmo- spheric composition