Properties of plasma ions in the distant Jovian magnetosheath using Solar Wind Around Pluto data on New Horizons

Abstract

AbstractThe Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on New Horizons (NH) made in situ observations of ions in Jupiter's distant magnetotail and magnetosheath during its 2007 flyby. NH observed 16 magnetopause crossings between 1654 and 2429 RJ antisunward from Jupiter. We have developed a method to calculate the bulk properties of the plasma ions (density, velocity, and temperature) based on a forward model of the SWAP instrument response. We fit the observations using both Maxwell and kappa distributions. In this paper we describe our technique, which includes accounting for the detailed and asymmetric response of the SWAP electrostatic analyzer, and present the results for the distant Jovian magnetosheath. Finally, we discuss the characteristics of the derived bulk properties and compare these results to previously developed gas dynamic models for magnetospheres of giant planets.