Ion pickup provides the key mechanism by which comets interact with the solar wind. Following ionization of neutral particles, the new-born ions are accelerated in the convection electric field and gyrate around the magnetic field – forming a cycloid in real space and an unstable ring in velocity space. Pickup is present at most other planetary objects, and in the outer solar system there are...
Key aspect of moon-magnetosphere interactions are dependent on the diversion of the flow around the conducting body of the moon and the acceleration of the flow along the flanks of the moon. Analytic solutions for the magnetic field perturbations [Neubauer, 1980; Saur et al., 2004 and references therein] have been derived assuming the moon’s conductance is constant within a specified radius...
The plasma torus at Io’s orbit has been shown to be a locus of intense Alfvén and ion cyclotron waves, which are trapped in the region by the waveguide properties of the torus. Research featuring these waves has progressed towards a detailed understanding of temporal variability in the region, which is vital to the upcoming JUICE mission’s aim to characterise the Galilean moons. Here we show...
