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Topside Ionosphere of Venus and its Interaction with the Solar Wind

Nature volume 225, pages 533–534 (1970)Cite this article

Abstract

THE abrupt termination of the daytime ionosphere of Venus at about 500 km observed with the Mariner V two-frequency occultation experiment provides an extremely interesting picture of the direct interaction of the solar wind with a planetary ionosphere1,2. It has been suggested that a pseudo-magnetopause is formed by magnetic fields carried along by the solar wind and forced to pile up on the topside of the highly conducting planetary ionosphere3,4. This magnetic obstacle then interacts with the superalfvénic and supersonic solar wind to form a bow shock; evidence for such a bow shock has been obtained by experiments on Mariner V and Venera IV (refs. 2 and 5).

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References

  1. Mariner Stanford Group, Science, 158, 1678 (1967).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

    S. J. BAUER, R. E. HARTLE & J. R. HERMAN

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  1. S. J. BAUER
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  2. R. E. HARTLE
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  3. J. R. HERMAN
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BAUER, S., HARTLE, R. & HERMAN, J. Topside Ionosphere of Venus and its Interaction with the Solar Wind. Nature 225, 533–534 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/225533a0

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