Birth of a comet magnetosphere: A spring of water ions-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Birth of a comet magnetosphere: A spring of water ions

Published:2015-01-23 Issue:6220 Volume:347 Page:
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

Nilsson Hans¹²,Stenberg Wieser Gabriella¹,Behar Etienne¹²,Wedlund Cyril Simon³,Gunell Herbert⁴,Yamauchi Masatoshi¹,Lundin Rickard¹,Barabash Stas¹,Wieser Martin¹,Carr Chris⁵,Cupido Emanuele⁵,Burch James L.⁶,Fedorov Andrei⁷,Sauvaud Jean-André⁷,Koskinen Hannu⁸⁹,Kallio Esa³⁹,Lebreton Jean-Pierre¹⁰,Eriksson Anders¹¹,Edberg Niklas¹¹,Goldstein Raymond⁴,Henri Pierre¹⁰,Koenders Christoph¹²,Mokashi Prachet⁶,Nemeth Zoltan¹³,Richter Ingo¹²,Szego Karoly¹³,Volwerk Martin¹⁴,Vallat Claire¹⁵,Rubin Martin¹⁶

Affiliation:

1. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Post Office Box 812, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden.

2. Luleå University of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Rymdcampus 1, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden.

3. Aalto University, School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Radio Science and Engineering, Post Office Box 13000, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.

4. Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Avenue Circulaire 3, 1180 Brussels, Belgium.

5. Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.

6. Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.

7. Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France.

8. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Post Office Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.

9. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Post Office Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland.

10. Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), UMR 7328 CNRS–Université d’Orléans, France.

11. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Ångström Laboratory, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala, Sweden.

12. Technicsche Universität–Braunschweig, Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, Mendelssohnstraße 3, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany.

13. Wigner Research Centre for Physics, 1121 Konkoly Thege Street 29-33, Budapest, Hungary.

14. Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstraße 6, 8042 Graz, Austria.

15. Rosetta Science Ground Segment, Science and Robotic Exploration (SRE-OOR), Office A006, European Space Astronomy Centre, Post Office Box 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.

16. Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstraße 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

Abstract

The Rosetta mission shall accompany comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a heliocentric distance of >3.6 astronomical units through perihelion passage at 1.25 astronomical units, spanning low and maximum activity levels. Initially, the solar wind permeates the thin comet atmosphere formed from sublimation, until the size and plasma pressure of the ionized atmosphere define its boundaries: A magnetosphere is born. Using the Rosetta Plasma Consortium ion composition analyzer, we trace the evolution from the first detection of water ions to when the atmosphere begins repelling the solar wind (~3.3 astronomical units), and we report the spatial structure of this early interaction. The near-comet water population comprises accelerated ions (<800 electron volts), produced upstream of Rosetta, and lower energy locally produced ions; we estimate the fluxes of both ion species and energetic neutral atoms.

Funder

Centre National d'Études Spatiales

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Max-Planck Society

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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