Acceleration of protons at 32 Jovian radii in the outer magnetosphere of Jupiter

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977

OSTI ID:6843346

Schardt, A W; Mcdonald, F B; Trainor, J H

During the inbound pass of Pioneer 10, a rapid ten-fold increase of the 0.2 to MeV proton flux was observed at 32 Jovian radii (R/sub J/). The total event lasted for 30 minutes and was made up of a number of superimposed individual events. At the time, the spacecraft was in the outer magnetosphere about 7 R/sub J/ below the magnetic equator. Before and after the event, the proton flux was characteristic of the low flux level normally encountered between crossings of the magnetic equator. Flux changes at different energies were coherent within 1 minute a time comparable to the time resolution of the data. The angular distributions were highly anisotropic with protons streaming toward Jupiter. A field-aligned dumbbell distribution was observed initially, and a pancake distribution, just before the flux decayed to its pre-event value. The alpha particle flux changed as rapidly as the proton flux but peaked at different times. The energetic electron flux behaved differently; it increased gradually throughout the period.

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, Md. (USA). Goddard Space Flight Center
• OSTI ID: 6843346
• Report Number(s): N-78-10991; NASA-TM-X-71410; X-660-77-225
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
ALPHA PARTICLES
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
ATMOSPHERES
BARYONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FLUX DENSITY
HADRONS
JUPITER PLANET
LEPTONS
NUCLEONS
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
PLANETARY MAGNETOSPHERES
PLANETS
PROTONS