Observations of Modulation of Ion Flux in the Coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko

Goldstein, R.; Burch, J. L.; Llera, K.; Altwegg, K.; Rubin, M.; Eriksson, A. I.; Nilsson, H. (2022). Observations of Modulation of Ion Flux in the Coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(11) American Geophysical Union 10.1029/2022gl098042

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On 6–8 June 2015, the Ion and Electron Sensor on board Rosetta observed keV-range water-group pickup ions arriving from the solar direction. Based on magnetic field intensification and variations, the appearance of the ions was likely to have been caused by a coronal mass ejection. During the 3-day period when Rosetta was 200 km from the comet, peak ion energy/charge (E/q) varied over a range from 50 eV to 1 keV in concert with neutral gas density variations caused by the rotation of the comet and its variable solar illumination. Thermal ion densities showed the same variations. The neutral density variations provided a unique opportunity to observe the repeated slowing of the solar wind by mass loading caused by charge exchange between energetic water-group ions and thermal water-group molecules. Such solar wind slowing was observed previously only by flyby missions that provided single events.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences

UniBE Contributor:

Altwegg, Kathrin, Rubin, Martin

Subjects:

500 Science > 520 Astronomy
500 Science > 530 Physics
600 Technology > 620 Engineering
000 Computer science, knowledge & systems

ISSN:

0094-8276

Publisher:

American Geophysical Union

Language:

English

Submitter:

Dora Ursula Zimmerer

Date Deposited:

11 Aug 2022 13:50

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:22

Publisher DOI:

10.1029/2022gl098042

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/171739

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/171739

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