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Comparative analysis of Venus and Mars magnetotails

  • A. Fedorov*
  • , C. Ferrier
  • , J. A. Sauvaud
  • , S. Barabash
  • , T. L. Zhang
  • , C. Mazelle
  • , R. Lundin
  • , H. Gunell
  • , H. Andersson
  • , K. Brinkfeldt
  • , Y. Futaana
  • , A. Grigoriev
  • , M. Holmström
  • , M. Yamauchi
  • , K. Asamura
  • , W. Baumjohann
  • , H. Lammer
  • , A. J. Coates
  • , D. O. Kataria
  • , D. R. Linder
  • C. C. Curtis, K. C. Hsieh, B. R. Sandel, J. J. Thocaven, M. Grande, H. Koskinen, E. Kallio, T. Sales, W. Schmidt, P. Riihela, J. Kozyra, N. Krupp, J. Woch, J. Luhmann, S. McKenna-Lawlor, S. Orsini, R. Cerulli-Irelli, A. Mura, A. Milillo, M. Maggi, E. Roelof, P. Brandt, C. T. Russell, K. Szego, J. D. Winningham, R. A. Frahm, J. Scherrer, J. R. Sharber, P. Wurz, P. Bochsler
*Corresponding author for this work
  • Université de Toulouse
  • Swedish Institute of Space Physics
  • Austrian Academy of Sciences
  • JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
  • University College London
  • University of Arizona
  • Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • University of Helsinki
  • Finnish Meteorological Institute
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Maynooth University
  • National Institute for Astrophysics
  • Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • University of California at Los Angeles
  • Wigner Research Centre for Physics
  • Southwest Research Institute
  • University of Bern

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)812-817
Number of pages6
JournalPlanetary and Space Science
Volume56
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2008
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Magnetosphere
  • Magnetotail
  • Mars
  • Venus

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