Pioneer 6 observations of a steady-state magnetosheath

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Scientific paper

Results are presented concerning the observations made by Pioneer 6 during the unusually quiet transit of the magnetosheath. Pioneer 6, launched on 16 December 1965, traversed the magnetosheath near local sunset a few degrees below the ecliptic plane. At this time, interplanetary conditions, as determined by subsequent flight data, were extremely quiet and Ap ~ 0. The data revealed a density spike associated with the shock front and an increase in density by a factor of approximately 3 as the flow crosses the shock. The density increase in the spike itself by more than an order of magnitude above the free-stream value. The solar wind electrons appear to increase in temperature by approximately a factor of 4 at the shock front and subsequently cool by about a factor of 2 as the flow proceeds downstream. The solar wind ions, on the other hand, although heated to about the same extent as the electrons in the vicinity of the shock front, do not appear to cool appreciably in the magnetosheath and, in addition, they reveal nonthermal characteristics. The data also indicate that 100 eV electrons may be injected into the magnetosphere at the Earth's magnetic field boundary and undergo further heating in the outer part of the magnetosphere.

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