Plasma Observations near Uranus: Initial Results from Voyager 2
Abstract
Extensive measurements of low-energy positive ions and electrons in the vicinity of Uranus have revealed a fully developed magnetosphere. The magnetospheric plasma has a warm component with a temperature of 4 to 50 electron volts and a peak density of roughly 2 protons per cubic centimeter, and a hot component, with a temperature of a few kiloelectron volts and a peak density of roughly 0.1 proton per cubic centimeter. The warm component is observed both inside and outside of L = 5, whereas the hot component is excluded from the region inside of that L shell. Possible sources of the plasma in the magnetosphere are the extended hydrogen corona, the solar wind, and the ionosphere. The Uranian moons do not appear to be a significant plasma source. The boundary of the hot plasma component at L = 5 may be associated either with Miranda or with the inner limit of a deeply penetrating, solar wind--driven magnetospheric convection system. The Voyager 2 spacecraft repeatedly encountered the plasma sheet in the magnetotail at locations that are consistent with a geometric model for the plasma sheet similar to that at Earth.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- July 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.233.4759.89
- Bibcode:
- 1986Sci...233...89B
- Keywords:
-
- Magnetospheric Electron Density;
- Planetary Magnetospheres;
- Space Plasmas;
- Uranus Atmosphere;
- Voyager 2 Spacecraft;
- Plasma Temperature;
- Positive Ions;
- Solar Planetary Interactions;
- Spacecraft Trajectories;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration