Search Publications
The variable source of the plasma sheet during a geomagnetic storm
Asamura, K.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C. G. +8 more
Both solar wind and ionospheric sources contribute to the magnetotail plasma sheet, but how their contribution changes during a geomagnetic storm is an open question. The source is critical because the plasma sheet properties control the enhancement and decay rate of the ring current, the main cause of the geomagnetic field perturbations that defi…
Jupiter-like planets might be common in a low-density environment
D'Orazi, Valentina; Zurlo, Alice; Gratton, Raffaele +6 more
Radial velocity surveys suggest that the Solar System may be unusual and that Jupiter-like planets have a frequency < 20% around solar-type stars. However, they may be much more common in one of the closest associations in the solar neighbourhood. Young moving stellar groups are the best targets for direct imaging of exoplanets and four massive…
Direct evidence of substorm-related impulsive injections of electrons at Mercury
Barabash, Stas; Futaana, Yoshifumi; Persson, Moa +22 more
Mercury's magnetosphere is known to involve fundamental processes releasing particles and energy like at Earth due to the solar wind interaction. The resulting cycle is however much faster and involves acceleration, transport, loss, and recycling of plasma. Direct experimental evidence for the roles of electrons during this cycle is however missin…
Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst
Ubertini, Pietro; Bazzano, Angela; Zannoni, Ugo +68 more
Earth's atmosphere, whose ionization stability plays a fundamental role for the evolution and endurance of life, is exposed to the effect of cosmic explosions producing high energy Gamma-ray-bursts. Being able to abruptly increase the atmospheric ionization, they might deplete stratospheric ozone on a global scale. During the last decades, an aver…
The second Venus flyby of BepiColombo mission reveals stable atmosphere over decades
Haus, Rainer; Arnold, Gabriele; Hiesinger, Harald +4 more
Studies of the Venusian mesosphere provide important information about the current state of the entire Venusian atmosphere. This includes information about the dense cloud structure, its vertical thermal profile, temperature fields, and the resulting dynamical and meteorological processes that contribute to a deeper understanding of the climatolog…
Fast plasmoid-mediated reconnection in a solar flare
Feng, Xueshang; Song, Yongliang; Xue, Zhike +8 more
Magnetic reconnection is a multi-faceted process of energy conversion in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas that operates at microscopic scales but has macroscopic drivers and consequences. Solar flares present a key laboratory for its study, leaving imprints of the microscopic physics in radiation spectra and allowing the macroscopic evo…
Identification and characterization of a new ensemble of cometary organic molecules
Altwegg, K.; Fuselier, S. A.; Rubin, M. +4 more
In-situ study of comet 1P/Halley during its 1986 apparition revealed a surprising abundance of organic coma species. It remained unclear, whether or not these species originated from polymeric matter. Now, high-resolution mass-spectrometric data collected at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by ESA's Rosetta mission unveil the chemical structure of …
The supernova remnant SN 1006 as a Galactic particle accelerator
Greco, Emanuele; Vink, Jacco; Miceli, Marco +6 more
The origin of cosmic rays is a pivotal open issue of high-energy astrophysics. Supernova remnants are strong candidates to be the Galactic factory of cosmic rays, their blast waves being powerful particle accelerators. However, supernova remnants can power the observed flux of cosmic rays only if they transfer a significant fraction of their kinet…
Using MARSIS signal attenuation to assess the presence of South Polar Layered Deposit subglacial brines
Orosei, Roberto; Caprarelli, Graziella; Pettinelli, Elena +7 more
Knowledge of the physical and thermal properties of the South Polar Layer Deposits (SPLD) is key to constrain the source of bright basal reflections at Ultimi Scopuli detected by the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) radar sounder. Here we present a detailed analysis of attenuation, based on data acquired by MARSI…
Inner southern magnetosphere observation of Mercury via SERENA ion sensors in BepiColombo mission
Kallio, E.; Barabash, S.; Holmström, M. +89 more
Mercury's southern inner magnetosphere is an unexplored region as it was not observed by earlier space missions. In October 2021, BepiColombo mission has passed through this region during its first Mercury flyby. Here, we describe the observations of SERENA ion sensors nearby and inside Mercury's magnetosphere. An intermittent high-energy signal, …