Interplanetary shock waves and their effects on the lunar wake
Abstract
Orbing the Moon, the two ARTEMIS spacecraft provide ample information for studying its interaction with the solar wind. A particularly informative configuration occurs when one spacecraft is in the solar wind and the other in the lunar wake at varying distances. This unique configuration allows studying the interaction when the Moon experiences transient solar wind conditions, such as interplanetary shock encounters. Such circumstances enable us to understand how the shock waves behave in the plasma void of the lunar wake, and how they interact with the wake fans as the solar wind plasma enters the downstream void. The preliminary results show that the magnetic field in the void center is compressed in a gradual and asymptotic manner in less than a minute. While the compression of the magnetic field in the wake was similar or a bit greater than that in the solar wind, the rise time of the compression took place over a much longer period compared with < 1 sec at the shock in the solar wind, due to the different nature of the compression in the wake. This accumulated compression is attributed to the compressional waves, which were launched by the sudden-enhanced solar wind compression of the wake boundary, and to the enhanced diamagnetic current propagating down the wake. Our 3D hybrid simulation provides an insight into this effect and reveals the nature of the significant, but asymptotic magnetic field enhancement/compression inside the wake.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMSH51A2469Z
- Keywords:
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- 7829 Kinetic waves and instabilities;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7845 Particle acceleration;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7851 Shock waves;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7867 Wave/particle interactions;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS