Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kasprzak, W.T.
• Taylor, H.A.
• Brace, L.H.
• Niemann, H.B.
• Scarf, F.L.

Titel

Observations of energetic ions near the Venus ionopause

Ist Teil von

• Planetary and space science, 1982-01, Vol.30 (11), p.1107-1115

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

1982

Quelle

Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect (DFG Nationallizenzen)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Ions (primarily O +) with spacecraft rest frame energies >40 eV have been observed by the Pioneer Venus Neutral Mass Spectrometer. The signature occurs in about 13% of the 700 orbits examined, primarily near the ionopause and at all solar zenith angles. The energetic ions coincide in location with superthermal ions observed by the Ion Mass Spectrometer and more rarely occur in some of the plasma clouds observed by the Electron Temperature Probe. These observations in conjunction with measurements by the Plasma Wave Instrument near the ionopause suggest that the ions are accelerated out of ionospheric plasma by the shocked solar wind through plasma waveparticle interactions.