SOLAR WIND-INDUCED EROSION OF PLUTO´S IONOSPHERE

Abstract:

Planetary ionospheres eroded by the solar wind provide mass and momentum to plasma wakes that extend downstream along the solar wind direction. Similar conditions can be applicable to Pluto where an extended atmosphere is expected given its low gravity force. Measurements conducted in the Venus plasma environment have shown that the Venus nightward directed ionospheric flow is deviated on the ecliptic plane as a result of its combined participation with the strong atmospheric rotation. At Pluto that deviation will be on a direction with a component perpendicular to the ecliptic plane given that its rotation axis is oriented ~30° away from that plane+. Measurements in the Venus wake also show the existence of plasma vortex structures located downstream from the planet and it is possible that similar features may be detected far downstream from Pluto along its plasma wake ++. + Pérez-de-Tejada, H., et al., Pluto´s plasma wake orientated away from the ecliptic plane ICARUS, 246, 310-316, 2015.

++Lundin, R. et al., A large-scale flow vortex in the Venus plasma tail and its fluid dynamic interpretation. GRL, 40(7), 1273, 2013;

Pérez-de-Tejada, H., et al., Plasma vortices in planetary wakes: Open Questions in Cosmology, INTECH Pub., Dec. 2012 (ISB 978-953-51-0880-1).