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Science 12 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5848, pp. 220 - 222
DOI: 10.1126/science.1148025
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Reports

Energetic Particles in the Jovian Magnetotail

R. L. McNutt, Jr.,1* D. K. Haggerty,1 M. E. Hill,1 S. M. Krimigis,1,2 S. Livi,3 G. C. Ho,1 R. S. Gurnee,1 B. H. Mauk,1 D. G. Mitchell,1 E. C. Roelof,1 D. J. McComas,3 F. Bagenal,4 H. A. Elliott,3 L. E. Brown,1 M. Kusterer,1 J. Vandegriff,1 S. A. Stern,5 H. A. Weaver,1 J. R. Spencer,6 J. M. Moore7

When the solar wind hits Jupiter's magnetic field, it creates a long magnetotail trailing behind the planet that channels material out of the Jupiter system. The New Horizons spacecraft traversed the length of the jovian magnetotail to >2500 jovian radii (RJ; 1 RJ {equiv}71,400 kilometers), observing a high-temperature, multispecies population of energetic particles. Velocity dispersions, anisotropies, and compositional variation seen in the deep-tail ({gtrsim} 500 RJ) with a ~3-day periodicity are similar to variations seen closer to Jupiter in Galileo data. The signatures suggest plasma streaming away from the planet and injection sites in the near-tail region (~200 to 400 RJ) that could be related to magnetic reconnection events. The tail structure remains coherent at least until it reaches the magnetosheath at 1655 RJ.

1 Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
2 Academy of Athens, 28 Panapistimiou, 10679 Athens, Greece.
3 Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA.
4 Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0392, USA.
5 NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546–0001, USA.
6 Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
7 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ralph.mcnutt{at}jhuapl.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
New Surprises in the Largest Magnetosphere of Our Solar System.
N. Krupp (2007)
Science 318, 216-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Diverse Plasma Populations and Structures in Jupiter's Magnetotail.
D. J. McComas, F. Allegrini, F. Bagenal, F. Crary, R. W. Ebert, H. Elliott, A. Stern, and P. Valek (2007)
Science 318, 217-220
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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