Properties of plasma ions in the distant Jovian magnetosheath using Solar Wind Around Pluto data on New Horizons

G. Nicolaou, D. J. McComas, F. Bagenal, H. A. Elliott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on New Horizons (NH) made in situ observations of ions in Jupiter's distant magnetotail and magnetosheath during its 2007 flyby. NH observed 16 magnetopause crossings between 1654 and 2429 RJ antisunward from Jupiter. We have developed a method to calculate the bulk properties of the plasma ions (density, velocity, and temperature) based on a forward model of the SWAP instrument response. We fit the observations using both Maxwell and kappa distributions. In this paper we describe our technique, which includes accounting for the detailed and asymmetric response of the SWAP electrostatic analyzer, and present the results for the distant Jovian magnetosheath. Finally, we discuss the characteristics of the derived bulk properties and compare these results to previously developed gas dynamic models for magnetospheres of giant planets. Key Points Derivation of plasma properties in the distant Jovian magnetosheath Characteristic movement of the magnetotail Density-temperature correlation

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3463-3479
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Volume119
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Space and Planetary Science
  • Geophysics

Keywords

  • Jupiter
  • magnetosheath
  • plasma properties

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