@article{Edberg:2016:mnras/stw2112,
author = {Edberg, NJT and Alho, M and Andre, M and Andrews, DJ and Behar, E and Burch, JL and Carr, CM and Cupido, E and Engelhardt, IAD and Eriksson, AI and Glassmeier, K-H and Goetz, C and Goldstein, R and Henri, P and Johansson, FL and Koenders, C and Mandt, K and Nilsson, H and Odelstad, E and Richter, I and Simon, Wedlund C and Stenberg, Wieser G and Szego, K and Vigren, E and Volwerk, M},
doi = {mnras/stw2112},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
pages = {S45--S46},
title = {CME impact on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2112},
volume = {462},
year = {2016}
}

Download

TY  - JOUR
AB  - We present Rosetta observations from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the impactof a coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME impacted on 5-6 Oct 2015, when Rosetta wasabout 800 km from the comet nucleus, and 1.4 AU from the Sun. Upon impact, the plasmaenvironment is compressed to the level that solar wind ions, not seen a few days earlier whenat 1500 km, now reach Rosetta. In response to the compression, the flux of suprathermalelectrons increases by a factor of 5-10 and the background magnetic field strength increasesby a factor of ∼2.5. The plasma density increases by a factor of 10 and reaches 600 cm−3,due to increased particle impact ionisation, charge exchange and the adiabatic compressionof the plasma environment. We also observe unprecedentedly large magnetic field spikes at800 km, reaching above 200 nT, which are interpreted as magnetic flux ropes. We suggestthat these could possibly be formed by magnetic reconnection processes in the coma as themagnetic field across the CME changes polarity, or as a consequence of strong shears causingKelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the plasma flow. Due to the limited orbit of Rosetta, we arenot able to observe if a tail disconnection occurs during the CME impact, which could beexpected based on previous remote observations of other CME-comet interactions.
AU  - Edberg,NJT
AU  - Alho,M
AU  - Andre,M
AU  - Andrews,DJ
AU  - Behar,E
AU  - Burch,JL
AU  - Carr,CM
AU  - Cupido,E
AU  - Engelhardt,IAD
AU  - Eriksson,AI
AU  - Glassmeier,K-H
AU  - Goetz,C
AU  - Goldstein,R
AU  - Henri,P
AU  - Johansson,FL
AU  - Koenders,C
AU  - Mandt,K
AU  - Nilsson,H
AU  - Odelstad,E
AU  - Richter,I
AU  - Simon,Wedlund C
AU  - Stenberg,Wieser G
AU  - Szego,K
AU  - Vigren,E
AU  - Volwerk,M
DO  - mnras/stw2112
EP  - 46
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 1365-2966
SP  - 45
TI  - CME impact on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
T2  - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2112
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/39115
VL  - 462
ER  - 

Download