The Magnetotail at Lunar Distance

Abstract:

This presentation reviews some of the single-point observations of the magnetotail at lunar distances made by ALSEP, Explorer 33, 35, ISEE-3, and Geotail that form the framework for interpreting more recent dual-spacecraft ARTEMIS observations. Earth's distant magnetotail flaps, twists, and flattens in response to variations in the solar wind flow direction and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation. It may even disappear leaving nothing more than a wake during strongly northward IMF orientations. Standing slow mode expansion fans provide for a gradual transition between magnetotail lobe and magnetosheath plasma and magnetic field parameters. The distant neutral line may at times reside at lunar distances, creating jets of sunward-streaming plasma within the cislunar plasma sheet and layers of streaming energetic particles on its boundaries. Reconnection at near-Earth neutral lines releases antisunward-moving plasmoids that transit lunar distances, briefly expanding the diameter of the plasma sheet and magnetotail. Taken as a whole, the distant magnetotail is a fascinating plasma laboratory and a region of great important to the magnetosphere.