Planetary and exoplanetary low frequency radio observations from the Moon

Philippe Zarka (1) , J.-L. Bougeret (1, 2) , Cyril Briand (1) , B. Cecconi (1) , Heino Falcke (3) , J. Girard (1) , Jean-Mathias Griessmeier (4) , Sebastien Hess (5) , Marc Klein-Wolt (3) , A. Konovalenko (6) , L. Lamy (1) , D. Mimoun (7) , A. Aminaei (3)

1 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 OP - Observatoire de Paris - Site de Paris
3 Department of Astrophysics [Nijmegen]
4 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
5 HELIOS - LATMOS
6 IRA - Institute of Radio Astronomy of NAS of Ukraine
7 ISAE-SUPAERO - Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace

We analyze the planetary and exoplanetary science that can be carried out with precursor as well as future low frequency radio instruments on the Moon, assessing the limiting noise sources, comparing them to the average and peak spectra of all planetary radio components as they will be seen from the Lunar surface or orbit. We identify which objectives will be accessible with each class of instrument, and discuss the interest of these observations compared to observations by planetary probes and to ground-based observations by large low-frequency radio arrays. The interest of goniopolarimetry is emphasized for pathfinder missions.

Mots clés: Saturn; Jupiter; Planets; Lunar radio array; Hot Jupiters; Exoplanets; Neptune; Uranus; Radioastronomy; Moon; Radio emission; Goniopolarimetry; Galactic background; Thermal noise; Lightning; Magnetosphere; Aurora

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]

Philippe Zarka, J.-L. Bougeret, Cyril Briand, B. Cecconi, Heino Falcke, et al.. Planetary and exoplanetary low frequency radio observations from the Moon. Planetary and Space Science, 2012, 74 (1), pp.156-166. ⟨10.1016/j.pss.2012.08.004⟩. ⟨hal-00772931⟩