Velocity space diffusion and nongyrotropy of pickup water group ions at comet Grigg‐Skjellerup

Abstract

The diffusion of water group cometary ions in velocity space at comet Grigg‐Skjellerup was measured during the Giotto spacecraft encounter. The evolution of the collapsed pitch angle and energy distributions during the inbound and outbound passes shows that the timescale for energy diffusion may be similar to that for pitch angle diffusion. Fully isotropic pitch angle distributions were never seen. Also the bulk parameters of the three‐dimensional distributions are examined. Transformation of these parameters into a field‐aligned solar wind frame allows us to test the gyrotropy of the distributions. The observations imply that there were deviations from gyrotropy throughout the encounter becoming most important near to closest approach.