Image Details
Caption: Figure 1.
Jovian magnetic field lines (M shells) intersecting the Galilean satellites (a) when the rotational and magnetic equators align at 69∘ or 249∘ System III east longitude and (b) when they have their maximum offset of 9.5∘ (shown here with the satellites south of the centrifugal equator at 339∘ System III east longitude). The large black circle at the center represents Jupiter, and the four smaller black circles are each of the Galilean satellites at their nominal orbital distances, labeled “I” for Io, “E” for Europa, “G” for Ganymede, and “C” for Callisto. Callisto experiences this full range of M shells within a 2.5 hour quarter rotation of Jupiter. Generated using the “JRM33” magnetic field model (J. E. P. Connerney et al. 2022) with the “CON2020” current sheet model (J. E. P. Connerney et al. 2020) as implemented in the Python package JupiterMag (R. J. Wilson et al. 2023).
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.