Pluto’s plasma wake oriented away from the ecliptic plane

Pérez‐de‐Tejada, H.; Durand-Manterola, H. J.; Reyes-Ruiz, M.; Lundin, R.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.06.022

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

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“…However, only a very small bow shock has been identified in New Horizons data (McComas et al, ). In fact, all results point to an atmosphere much more compact than expected (e.g., Bagenal et al, ; Cravens & Strobel, ; Gladstone et al, ; Hinson et al, ; Krasnopolsky, ; Pérez‐De‐Tejada et al, ; Young et al, ), and that any bow shock would have to be very close to Pluto or even attached to the exobase (Bagenal et al, ; McComas et al, ). More recent simulations, with a compact atmosphere, reproduce the close boundary identified as a bow shock (Feyerabend et al, ; Hale & Paty, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Constraining the IMF at Pluto Using New Horizons SWAP Data and Hybrid Simulations

et al. 2019

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New Horizons did not carry a magnetometer, so there is no direct way to know the strength of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) at the time of the flyby. Using a hybrid model together with a detailed model of the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument (McComas et al., 2007, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-007-9205-3) we have identified three observables that are sensitive to IMF strength: the width of Pluto's heavy ion tail, the energy of heavy ions, and the profile of thermal pressure along the New Horizons trajectory. By comparing simulation to data we infer that the IMF strength was most likely near or below ∼0.1 nT. We also show that the shell distribution of Interstellar Pickup Ions is important for reproducing these observations due to its effect on global pressure balance.

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