Solar Wind's Effect on other Planets

[Philosophaie]

Solar Wind is composed of magnetically charged plasma ejected from the Sun at a high velocity. By the time it reaches Earth the parameters are:

______________Min_Avg___Max
Flux (cm-2s-1)---1----3----100
Velocity (km/s)--200-400---900
Density (cm-3)--0.4--6.5---100
Helium %-------- 0----5-----25
B (nT)-----------0.2---6----80

http://magbase.rssi.ru/REFMAN/SPPHTEXT/solarwind.html

My question is what are the values for the above on other Planets? The plasma must spread out as it radiates from the Sun so some of the values will be larger on the inner two and the values for the outer Planets should be smaller. One exception is the Velocity should stay the same except when in contact with Planets.

 

[Astronuc]

The solar wind is primarily electrons and protons. The magnetic fields are by virture of local currents, or the planets.

This should get one started.

Venus
http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/interact_solwind/
http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/personnel/russell/papers/interact_solwind/fig3.gif

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Venus_Express/SEM0G373R8F_0.html

Venus-Solar Wind Interaction: Asymmetries and the Escape of O+ Ions
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0603243

Mars
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast31jan_1.htm
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/21nov_plasmoids.htm

http://gse.gi.alaska.edu/recent/mars.html

Mars' magnetism and its interaction with the solar wind By Daniel Winterhalter, M. H. Acuña, Alexander

Jupiter
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0202/28jupiter/
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0604/05auroras/

http://books.google.com/books?id=8GcGRXlmxWsC&pg=PA649&lpg=PA649

http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-2009/2006/04/nparticle-qzb-j89-jmd

http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/plasma-wave/tutorial/voyager1/jupiter/bowshock/text.html

http://lasp.colorado.edu/education/outerplanets/giantplanets_magnetospheres.php


Saturn
http://caps.space.swri.edu/caps/publications/saturn_aurora_jgr_rev4b.pdf

http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2008/09973/EGU2008-A-09973.pdf

Mission to Saturn - http://books.google.com/books?id=O0L9pnYNnGwC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43

--------------------
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ace/
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/sw_dials.html

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SolarWind.shtml

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/sun/wind.html

http://pluto.space.swri.edu/image/glossary/solar_wind.html


Encyclopedia of the solar system By Lucy-Ann Adams McFadden, Paul Robert Weissman, Torrence V. Johnson

 

[qraal]

Solar Wind is composed of magnetically charged plasma ejected from the Sun at a high velocity. By the time it reaches Earth the parameters are:

My question is what are the values for the above on other Planets? The plasma must spread out as it radiates from the Sun so some of the values will be larger on the inner two and the values for the outer Planets should be smaller. One exception is the Velocity should stay the same except when in contact with Planets.

Well the density decreases with the inverse square of the radial distance. The Wind also loses energy as it climbs out of the Sun's gravity well, decreasing the flux passing through a unit area per unit time. Eventually the Wind slams into the much slower Interstellar Wind and slows down, releasing energy. So if the Wind density is 5 protons/cm³ at Earth, then it's 0.2 /cm³ at Jupiter's orbit and just 0.05 /cm³ at Saturn, then the flux is the density times the Wind speed at that radial distance. Travelling from Earth's orbit (1 AU) to Saturn's (10 AU) is an energy loss of GMm_p*(1/R₁ - 1/R₂) for the protons of the wind. If the Wind is moving at 400 km/s, then the proton kinetic energy at Earth is 1/2*m_p*(400,000 m/s)² ~ 8 x 10¹⁰ J/kg. Thus comparing the two, the gravity loss is 800 MJ/kg, about 1%, so the speed at Saturn is 99.5% of what it is at Earth and so the flux is about 0.00995 of the flux at Earth.

But the density and speed vary considerably depending on energy releasing events on the Sun's 'surface' like Coronal Mass Ejections, magnetic reconnection and solar flares.