The birth and growth of a solar wind cavity around a comet - Rosetta observations

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openAccess

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2017-07-27

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

S396–S403

Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 469, issue Supplement 2

Abstract

The Rosetta mission provided detailed observations of the growth of a cavity in the solar wind around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. As the comet approached the Sun, the plasma of cometary origin grew enough in density and size to present an obstacle to the solar wind. Our results demonstrate how the initial slight perturbations of the solar wind prefigure the formation of a solar wind cavity, with a particular interest placed on the discontinuity (solar wind cavity boundary) passing over the spacecraft. The slowing down and heating of the solar wind can be followed and understood in terms of single particle motion. We propose a simple geometric illustration that accounts for the observations, and shows how a cometary magnetosphere is seeded from the gradual steepening of an initially slight solar wind perturbation. A perspective is given concerning the difference between the diamagnetic cavity and the solar wind cavity.

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Keywords

acceleration of particles, plasmas, methods: data analysis, techniques: imaging spectroscopy, comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

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Citation

Behar, E, Nilsson, H, Alho, M, Goetz, C & Tsurutani, B 2017, ' The birth and growth of a solar wind cavity around a comet - Rosetta observations ', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 469, no. Supplement 2, pp. S396–S403 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1871