| Session Details | |
| Section | PS - Planetary Sciences |
| Session Title | Ionized Environments of Magnetized Planets Compared |
| Main Convener | Dr. Dominique Delcourt (LPP-CNRS, France, Metropolitan) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Francois Leblanc (Service d'Aeronomie du CNRS, France) Dr. Kanako Seki (Nagoya University, Japan) Dr. Pontus Brandt (The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labor, United States) |
| Session Description | With CASSINI at Saturn, MESSENGER flyby at Mercury and other planetary missions (BEPI COLOMBO, PHOBOS GRUNT...) in preparation, it is timely to put into perspective the common knowledge that has been accumulated for the Earth's magnetosphere. This session will be dedicated to analysis of the ionized environment of planets other than Earth but adopting a comparative approach. As an example, in-situ and global measurements at Saturn suggest that the kronian magnetosphere is subjected to dynamical reconfigurations and energetic particle injections comparable to those observed at Earth during substorms. Also, in-situ measurements at Mercury reveal a complex composition of the magnetotail plasma as a result of substantial supply from the planet surface and exosphere, in a like manner to the plasma supplied by the ionosphere to the magnetosphere at Earth. The aim of the proposed session is to gather works based on both in-situ and global measurements and/or numerical simulations in a variety of astrophysical contexts to progress toward a global picture of the dynamics of planetary plasma environments. |