Bow shocks and magnetotails of Venus and Mars - A comparison

Details Bow shocks and magnetotails of Venus and Mars - A comparison Bow shocks and magnetotails of Venus and Mars - A comparison

Sep 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992adspr..12..163r&link_type=abstract

(Recent results on Mars and Venus; Proceedings of Symposium 3 and the Topical Meetings of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Commi

Computer Science

3

Bow Waves, Mars (Planet), Planetary Magnetotails, Shock Waves, Solar Planetary Interactions, Venus (Planet), Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Pioneer Venus Spacecraft, Planetary Magnetic Fields, Planetary Magnetospheres

Scientific paper

Observations of the bow shock location and the structure of the magnetotail of Mars by the Phobos spacecraft and of Venus by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter reveal the solar wind interactions with these two planets to be quite similar. The subsolar bow shocks of both Venus and Mars lie at 1.47 planetary radii while at the terminator they are at 2.40 and 2.65 planetary radii, respectively. Both bow shocks have oval cross sections when viewed from the sun whose major axes are controlled by the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. The tail lobes of both planets are similarly controlled by the IMF orientation. The strength of the solar/antisolar component of the magnetic field is 17 nT at Venus and 14 nT at Mars. The component perpendicular to the tail axis is about 1/2 the corresponding IMF component at Venus and 2 times this component at Mars. However, when these measurements are compared in terms of the distance down the tail at which each were taken, the data from the two planets are quite consistent. Hence both Venus and Mars have principally induced magnetospheres and magnetotails which stand off the solar wind flow.

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