Magnetospheric structures: Uranus and Neptune
Magnetospheric structures that might be encountered at Uranus and Neptune are described. Statistics indicate a sufficiently high probability to warrant consideration of their likely properties in advance of the Voyager encounters. Because the spin axis of Uranus lies nearly in the ecliptic and presently points approximately sunward, Voyager is likely to encounter the unique pole on configuration that has special theoretical significance. Corotation in the magnetospheres of Uranus and Neptune would probably exclude solar wind drive convection as an important driver of global magnetospheric dynamics, as it does at Jupiter and Saturn. The magnetospheres of Uranus and Neptune probably lack sufficient internal sources of plasma to produce significant levels of rotationally driven convection. The reported observation of auroral emission from Uranus has therefore motivated the development of an alternative model in which solar wind motion is coupled directly to the rotation of the ionosphere to establish a dynamo circuit which generates Birkeland currents and polar cap aurora. This model predicts the strength and configuration of the aurora as functions of the magnitude and polarity, respectively, of the planetary magnetic moment.
- Research Organization:
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5887458
- Report Number(s):
- N-85-11949
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATMOSPHERES
CONVECTION
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEPTUNE PLANET
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
PLANETARY MAGNETOSPHERES
PLANETS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND
SPACE VEHICLES
URANUS PLANET
VEHICLES
VOYAGER SPACE PROBES