Search Publications
Evidence for lunar tide effects in Earth's plasmasphere
Zong, Qiugang; Guo, Ruilong; Xiao, Chao +18 more
Tides are universal and affect spatially distributed systems, ranging from planetary to galactic scales. In the Earth-Moon system, effects caused by lunar tides were reported in the Earth's crust, oceans, neutral gas-dominated atmosphere (including the ionosphere) and near-ground geomagnetic field. However, whether a lunar tide effect exists in th…
Polymeric jets throw light on the origin and nature of the forest of solar spicules
Korsós, Marianna B.; Liu, Jiajia; Erdélyi, Robertus +4 more
Spicules are plasma jets that are observed in the dynamic interface region between the visible solar surface and the hot corona. At any given time, it is estimated that about 3 million spicules are present on the Sun. We find an intriguing parallel between the simulated spicular forest in a solar-like atmosphere and the numerous jets of polymeric …
Coalescence of magnetic flux ropes in the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection
Wang, Shui; Huang, Can; Guo, Fan +7 more
Merging magnetic flux ropes, which are believed to play an important role in magnetic reconnection, have now been clearly identified. Observations show that coalescence is indeed closely related to reconnection dynamics and also to turbulence.
Cross-scale energy transport in space plasmas
Nykyri, K.; Moore, T. W.; Dimmock, A. P.
The solar wind is a supersonic magnetized plasma streaming far into the heliosphere. Although cooling as it flows, it is rapidly heated upon encountering planetary obstacles. At Earth, this interaction forms the magnetosphere and its sub-regions. The present paper focuses on particle heating across the boundary separating the shocked solar wind an…
In situ observations of waves in Venus's polar lower thermosphere with Venus Express aerobraking
Svedhem, Håkan; Bruinsma, Sean; Marty, Jean-Charles +1 more
The final stage of the Venus Express mission involved aerobraking — or deceleration by atmospheric drag — through the upper atmosphere above the northern pole of Venus. Concurrent measurements revealed two kinds of waves.
A journey through scales
Retinò, Alessandro
Direct satellite observations of energy transfer between large and small space plasma scales contribute to our understanding of how matter in the Universe gets hot.
Rosetta mission: Space oddity
Georgescu, Iulia
Rosetta mission: When the dust has settled
Jewitt, David
The Rosetta orbiter following Comet 67P has captured not only the public imagination but also actual dust grains from the comet's nucleus, revealing their composition, morphology and strength.
Rosetta mission: Cometary curiosities
Chiao, May
Energetic electron acceleration by unsteady magnetic reconnection
André, M.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V. +2 more
Magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere accelerates electrons. And yet energetic electrons are not created during reconnection in the solar wind. Observations from the Cluster spacecraft now suggest that electron acceleration is caused by repeated bursts of plasma flow, which only occur in situations where the magnetic reconnection is u…