Related papers: Electrical processes in planetary atmospheres
The diversity in mass and composition of planetary atmospheres stems from the different building blocks present in protoplanetary discs and from the different physical and chemical processes that these experience during the planetary…
Owing to the ever-present solar wind, our vast solar system is full of plasmas. The turbulent solar wind, together with sporadic solar eruptions, introduces various space plasma processes and phenomena in the solar atmosphere all the way to…
Partially ionized plasmas are found across the Universe in many different astrophysical environments. They constitute an essential ingredient of the solar atmosphere, molecular clouds, planetary ionospheres and protoplanetary disks, among…
Only three processes, operant during the formation of the Solar System, are responsible for the diversity of matter in the Solar System and are directly responsible for planetary internal-structures, including planetocentric nuclear fission…
The formation of electron groups is a common phenomenon in gas discharges and space plasmas. We describe similarities between electron kinetics in solar wind, cathode region of glow discharges, and magnetic nozzles. Remarkable resemblances…
We study the dynamics of co-orbital dust in the inner solar system, i.e. the role of the solar radiation pressure, Poynting-Robertson effect, solar wind, and the interplanetary magnetic field on the location, width and stability of resonant…
The Earth is no longer the only known celestial body containing one or more liquid phases. The Cassini spacecraft has discovered seas of hydrocarbons at the surface of Titan, while a series of corroborating evidences argue in favour of the…
Clouds also form in atmospheres of planets that orbit other stars than our Sun, in so-called extrasolar planets or exoplanets. Exoplanet atmospheres can be chemically extremely rich. Exoplanet clouds are therefor made of a mix of materials…
The ambipolar electrostatic field has long been recognized as a key driver of ion escape from planetary atmospheres. Elucidating the mechanisms responsible for the generation of this field is critical for understanding atmospheric escape…
Understanding the nature of the matter comprising the Solar System is crucial for understanding the mechanism that generates the Earth's geomagnetic field and the magnetic fields of other planets and satellites. The commonality in the Solar…
While it may seem counterintuitive that X-ray astronomy should give any insights into low-temperature planetary systems, planets orbit stars whose magnetized surfaces divert a small fraction of the stellar energy into high energy products:…
Looking at the Mars-solar wind interaction on a larger spatial scale than the near Mars region, the planet can be seen as an ion source interacting with the solar wind, in many ways like a comet, but with a smaller ion source region. Here…
Solar system bodies that lack a significant atmosphere and significant internal magnetic fields, such as the Moon and asteroids, have been considered as passive absorbers of the solar wind. However, ion observations near the Moon by the…
Gravitational lensing of invisible streaming matter towards the Sun could be the explanation of the puzzling solar flares and the unexplained solar emission in the EUV. Assuming that this invisible matter has some form of interaction with…
Spherical layer of ideal gas is considered. The layer is in the sphere's gravity field. Existence possibility of steady 1D stationary currents of this layer is studied. This problem simulates zonal winds taking place in the atmospheres of…
Venus' atmosphere -- specifically its clouds buoyed up 40 to 60 km above the surface -- has long been suspected to encompass a biosphere where Earth-like living organisms could grow and flourish. This idea has been recently rekindled by the…
Measurements conducted with the ASPERA-4 instrument and the magnetometer of the Venus Express spacecraft show that the dynamic pressure of planetary O+ ion fluxes measured in the Venus wake can be significantly larger than the local…
Cloudy atmospheres produce electric discharges, including lightning. Lightning, in turn, provides sufficient energy to break down air molecules into reactive species and thereby affects the atmospheric composition. The climate of tidally…
Observations and models suggest that the conditions to develop lightning may be present in cloud-forming extrasolar planetary and brown dwarf atmospheres. Whether lightning on these objects is similar to or very different from what is known…
Strong ionization on close-in extrasolar giant planets suggests that their atmospheres may be affected by ion drag and resistive heating arising from wind-driven electrodynamics. Recent models of ion drag on these planets, however, are…