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Comparative analysis of Venus and Mars magnetotails |
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| Authors: | A Fedorov C Ferrier S Barabash C Mazelle H Gunell K Brinkfeldt A Grigoriev M Yamauchi W Baumjohann AJ Coates DR Linder KC Hsieh J-J Thocaven H Koskinen T Sales P Riihela N Krupp J Luhmann S Orsini A Mura M Maggi P Brandt K Szego RA Frahm JR Sharber P Bochsler |
| Institution: | a Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements 31028, Toulouse, France b Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-98 128 Kiruna, Sweden c Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, OAW, Graz, Austria d Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamichara, Japan e Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK f University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA g Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK h Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland i Finnish Meteorological Institute, Box 503, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland j Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA k Max-Planck-Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany l Space Science Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USA m Space Technology Ireland, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland n Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetari, I-00133 Rome, Italy o Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USA p Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, 405 Hilgard Ave Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, USA q KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary r Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 7228-0510, USA s University of Bern, Physikalisches Institut, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland |
| Abstract: | We have an unique opportunity to compare the magnetospheres of two non-magnetic planets as Mars and Venus with identical instrument sets Aspera-3 and Aspera-4 on board of the Mars Express and Venus Express missions. We have performed both statistical and case studies of properties of the magnetosheath ion flows and the flows of planetary ions behind both planets. We have shown that the general morphology of both magnetotails is generally identical. In both cases the energy of the light (H+) and the heavy (O+, etc.) ions decreases from the tail periphery (several keV) down to few eV in the tail center. At the same time the wake center of both planets is occupied by plasma sheet coincident with the current sheet of the tail. Both plasma sheets are filled by accelerated (500-1000 eV) heavy planetary ions. We report also the discovery of a new feature never observed before in the tails of non-magnetic planets: the plasma sheet is enveloped by consecutive layers of He+ and H+ with decreasing energies. |
| Keywords: | Mars Venus Magnetotail Magnetosphere |
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