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Neutral Atom Imaging Of The Magnetospheric Cusps, S. M. Petrinec, M. A. Dayeh, H. O. Funsten, S. A. Fuselier, David F. Heirtzler, P. Janzen, Harald A. Kucharek, D. J. Mccomas, Eberhard Moebius, T. E. Moore, D. B. Reisenfeld, Nathan A. Schwadron, K. J. Trattner, P. Wurz
Neutral Atom Imaging Of The Magnetospheric Cusps, S. M. Petrinec, M. A. Dayeh, H. O. Funsten, S. A. Fuselier, David F. Heirtzler, P. Janzen, Harald A. Kucharek, D. J. Mccomas, Eberhard Moebius, T. E. Moore, D. B. Reisenfeld, Nathan A. Schwadron, K. J. Trattner, P. Wurz
Physics & Astronomy
The magnetospheric cusps separate closed dayside magnetospheric field lines from open field lines of the magnetotail mantle and lobes. All magnetospheric field lines that map to the magnetopause also pass through the cusp regions. Thus whenever magnetic reconnection occurs at the magnetopause, magnetosheath plasma can enter one or both of the cusp regions and charge exchange with the geocorona. The resulting energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) resulting from this charge exchange process propagate away from the cusps and are observed remotely by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). The asymmetry of the ENA intensities between the northern and southern cusps are strongly …