The ionotail of Venus: Its configuration and evidence for ion escape

Brace, L. H.; Kasprzak, W. T.; Taylor, H. A.; Theis, R. F.; Russell, C. T.; Barnes, A.; Mihalov, J. D.; Hunten, D. M.

doi:10.1029/ja092ia01p00015

Cited by 143 publications

(172 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The antisolar pressure-gradient supplied nightside ionosphere and near-Venus wake that was observed by PVO at solar maximum exhibited features such as ionospheric holes and tail rays (Brace et al 1982a(Brace et al , 1987) that are still not fully understood. The situation for low solar activity at low altitudes is still relatively unexplored.…”

Section: An In-situ Observer's Perspective Of Near-venus Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

et al. 2017

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Venus has intrigued planetary scientists for decades because of its huge contrasts to Earth, in spite of its nickname of "Earth's Twin". Its invisible upper atmosphere and space environment are also part of the larger story of Venus and its evolution. In 60s to 70s, several missions (Venera and Mariner series) explored Venus-solar wind interaction regions. They identified the basic structure of the near-Venus space environment, for example, existence of the bow shock, magnetotail, ionosphere, as well as the lack of the intrinsic magnetic field. A huge leap in knowledge about the solar wind interaction with Venus was made possible by the 14-year long mission, Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO), launched in 1978. More recently, ESA's probe, Venus Express (VEX), was inserted into orbit in 2006, operated for 8 years.Owing to its different orbit from that of PVO, VEX made unique measurements in the polar and terminator regions, and probed the near-Venus tail for the first time. The near-tail hosts dynamic processes that lead to plasma energization. These processes in turn lead to the loss of ionospheric ions to space, slowly eroding the Venusian atmosphere. VEX carried an ion spectrometer with a moderate mass-separation capability and the observed ratio of the escaping hydrogen and oxygen ions in the wake indicates the stoichiometric loss of water from Venus. The structure and dynamics of the induced magnetosphere depends on the prevailing solar wind conditions. VEX studied the response of the magnetospheric system on different time scales. A plethora of waves was identified by the magnetometer on VEX; some of them were not previously observed by PVO. Proton cyclotron waves were seen far upstream of the bow shock, mirror mode waves were observed in magnetosheath and whistler mode waves, possibly generated by lightning discharges were frequently seen. VEX also encouraged renewed numerical modeling efforts, including fluid-type of models and particle-fluid hybrid type of models, describing the plasma interaction on scales ranging from ion gyro radius to the entire induced magnetosphere. In this review article, we review what has been found from space physics measurements around Venus (from the solar wind down to the ionopause), with a particular emphasis on updated results since the Venus Express mission. We conclude the article by a short discussion on the remaining open scientific questions and the future of this field.

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Section: An In-situ Observer's Perspective Of Near-venus Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

et al. 2017

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“…But we must in addition take into account a possible stellar wind which may transform the ring into a comet-like tail of the giant planet similar to the Venus tail observed in situ (e.g. Brace et al 1987). The tail is characterized by two parameters (Fig.…”

Section: Transmission Spectrummentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for spectroscopical signatures of transiting HD 209458b's exosphere

Moutou

Coustenis

Schneider

et al. 2001

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Abstract.Following recent attempts to detect the exosphere of the extra-solar planet 51 Pegb in the infrared (Coustenis et al. 1997(Coustenis et al. , 1998Rauer et al. 2000a), we discuss here a search for optical spectroscopic signatures from a gaseous extended envelope (called exosphere) surrounding the planet HD 209458b. This planet has a demonstrated photometric transit (Charbonneau et al. 2000a;Henry et al. 2000), thus offering an increased probability for the spectroscopic detection of such an envelope. Therefore it is the best known candidate for probing the exospheric composition of a giant planet, orbiting a Sun-like star at a short distance. The observations were performed with UVES at the VLT and cover most of the 328-669 nm range. We did not detect HD 209458b's exosphere at a level of 1%, a value close to the predictions. We discuss here the first results obtained and their limitations, as well as future prospective.

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“…23 in Brace and Kliore, 1991). Estimates of the total solar wind induced oxygen ion escape from Venus range from the order of 10 24 s −1 to 10 26 s −1 including observational and simulation studies (e.g., Brace et al, 1987;Moore and McComas, 1992;Terada et al, 2004;Lammer et al, 2006;Kallio et al, 2006b;Barabash et al, 2007a;Martinecz et al, 2009). We select to call the value 10 25 s −1 as the nominal O + escape rate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen ion escape from Venus in a global hybrid simulation: role of the ionospheric O<sup>+</sup> ions

et al. 2009

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Abstract. We study the solar wind induced oxygen ion escape from Venus' upper atmosphere and the Venus Express observations of the Venus-solar wind interaction by the HYB-Venus hybrid simulation code. We compare the simulation to the magnetic field and ion observations during an orbit of nominal upstream conditions. Further, we study the response of the induced magnetosphere to the emission of planetary ions. The hybrid simulation is found to be able to reproduce the main observed regions of the Venusian plasma environment: the bow shock (both perpendicular and parallel regions), the magnetic barrier, the central tail current sheet, the magnetic tail lobes, the magnetosheath and the planetary wake. The simulation is found to best fit the observations when the planetary O + escape rate is in the range from 3×10 24 s −1 to 1.5×10 25 s −1 . This range was also found to be a limit for a test particle-like behaviour of the planetary ions: the higher escape rates manifest themselves in a different global configuration of the Venusian induced magnetosphere.

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The ionotail of Venus: Its configuration and evidence for ion escape

Cited by 143 publications

References 28 publications

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

Search for spectroscopical signatures of transiting HD 209458b's exosphere

Oxygen ion escape from Venus in a global hybrid simulation: role of the ionospheric O<sup>+</sup> ions

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The ionotail of Venus: Its configuration and evidence for ion escape

Cited by 143 publications

References 28 publications

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

Search for spectroscopical signatures of transiting HD 209458b's exosphere

Oxygen ion escape from Venus in a global hybrid simulation: role of the ionospheric O&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; ions

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Oxygen ion escape from Venus in a global hybrid simulation: role of the ionospheric O<sup>+</sup> ions