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Kecskeméty & Cravens 1993
Kecskeméty, K. and Cravens, T.E. (1993). Pick-up ions at Pluto. Geophysical Research Letters 20: doi: 10.1029/93GL00487. issn: 0094-8276.

Methane molecules escaping from Pluto's atmosphere are ionized, and the resulting ions are picked up by the solar wind. The mass loading associated with this ion pick-up can produce a comet-like interaction of the solar wind with Pluto. Heavy ion gyroradii are as large as a half million km in the weak interplanetary magnetic field that exists at 30 AU, which is about an order of magnitude larger than the size of the ''interaction region''. We have calculated velocity space distribution of pick-up ions using numerically determined ion trajectories. The predicted pick-up ion fluxes are high enough to be detectable by standard charged particle detectors as far upstream of Pluto as 106 km. ¿American Geophysical Union 1993

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Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind interactions with unmagnetized bodies, Planetology, Solid Surface Planets and Satellites, Interactions with particles and fields, Planetology, Comets and Small Bodies, Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields, Space Plasma Physics, Charged particle motion and acceleration
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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