Related papers: Dynamics of solar wind protons reflected by the Mo…
The Moon appears bright in the sky as a source of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). These ENAs have recently been imaged over a broad energy range both from near the lunar surface, by India's Chandrayaan-1 mission (CH-1), and from a much more…
The absence of global magnetic fields is often cited to explain why Mars lacks a dense atmosphere. This line of thought is based on a prevailing theory that magnetic fields can shield the atmosphere from solar wind erosion. However, we…
We use Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN observations of the upstream solar wind, and Mars Express observations of ionospheric electron densities and magnetic fields, to study how the topside ionosphere ($>$ 320 km) of Mars is affected…
We operate the six German stations of the LOw Frequency ARray as standalone telescopes to observe more than 100 pulsars every week. To date, we have collected almost four years of high-quality data at an unprecedented weekly cadence. This…
Light scalar fields can drive the accelerated expansion of the universe. Hence, they are obvious dark energy candidates. To make such models compatible with tests of General Relativity in the solar system and "fifth force" searches on…
We aim at analytically modelling the solar wind proton trajectories during their interaction with a partially ionised cometary atmosphere, not in terms of bulk properties of the flow but in terms of single particle dynamics. We first derive…
Weakly collisional plasmas are subject to nonlinear relaxation processes, which can operate at rates much faster than the particle collision frequencies. This causes the plasma to respond like a magnetised fluid despite having long particle…
The physical processes in the solar corona that shape the solar wind remain an active research topic. Modeling efforts have shown that energy and plasma exchanges near the transition region plays a crucial role in modulating solar wind…
Due to the high absorption of solar wind plasma on the lunar dayside, a large scale wake structure is formed downstream of the Moon. However, recent in-situ observations have revealed the presence of protons in the near-lunar wake (100 km…
Proton auroras are widely observed on the dayside of Mars, identified as a significant intensity enhancement in the hydrogen Lyman alpha (121.6 nm) emission between 110 - 150 km altitudes. Solar wind protons penetrating as energetic neutral…
Observations of strong solar wind proton flux correlations with ROSAT X-ray rates along with high spectral resolution Chandra observations of X-rays from the dark Moon show that soft X-ray emission mirrors the behavior of the solar wind. In…
The high-speed solar wind is typically the simplest and least stochastic type of large-scale plasma flow in the heliosphere. For much of the solar cycle, it is connected magnetically to large polar coronal holes on the Sun's surface.…
The atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon Titan is driven by photochemistry, charged particle precipitation from Saturn's upstream magnetosphere, and presumably by the diffusion of the magnetospheric field into the outer ionosphere, amongst…
The complex interplay between the Solar Wind and the lunar surface serves as a quintessential example of space weathering. However, uncertainties persist regarding the influence of plasma originating from Earth's ionosphere, necessitating a…
The solar atmosphere is full of complicated transients manifesting the reconfiguration of solar magnetic field and plasma. Solar jets represent collimated, beam-like plasma ejections; they are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and…
Plasma waves are observed in almost all the solar system objects. The planetary ionospheres are capable of sustaining plasma waves which are observed there and play an important role in the ionospheric dynamics. Venus does not possess a…
The lunar surface has been exposed to the space environment for billions of years and during this time has accumulated records of a wide range of astrophysical phenomena. These include solar wind particles and the cosmogenic products of…
Ion pickup at the outer planets' active moons is a fundamental plasma process in which newly ionized particles from moon exospheres interact with the ambient corotating plasma and are accelerated to match the background flow. Spacecraft…
When the solar wind interacts with the ionosphere of an unmagnetized planet, it induces currents that form an induced magnetosphere. These currents and their associated magnetic fields play a pivotal role in controlling the movement of…
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, possesses a weak intrinsic magnetic field and has only a very tenuous atmosphere (exosphere). These three conditions result in a direct coupling between the plasma emitted from the Sun (namely the…