Research group Our research interests comprise plasma physics in the solar system and the interaction between the solar wind and different solar system objects, such as planets, moons, and comets. We explore these topics, using data from spacecraft-based instruments as well as via numerical modelling.
Mars
We study the bow shock of Mars, particularly looking at asymmetries and wave processes related to the bow shock. This is done, using data from NASA's spacecraft MAVEN, and ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. One recent discovery that we have made is that Magnetosheath Jets exists also at Mars, whereas they previously only had been observed at Earth. Wave processes are thought to be behind the generation of these jets, and this is a topic of ongoing research.
Comets
A comet can be seen as a laboratory that can be used to study the magnetospheric physics of unmagnetised planets such as Mars, because comets go through a range of different regimes that are not accessible at planets. In this way comets can tell us how a system reacts to changes in solar UV radiation, solar wind parameters, and outgassing rates. Regimes that are not accessible at Mars today, can nevertheless be important when considering planetary-solar wind interaction throughout the history of the solar system.
We have studied comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko over the past decade, using data from ESA's Rosetta spacecraft. We are researching topics like the infant bow shock, the diamagnetic cavity, Langmuir waves, and ion acoustic waves in different part of the comet environment. We are also involved in ESA's comet interceptor mission that is scheduled for launch in 2029, and which shall fly by a dynamically new comet.
Aurora at Ganymede
Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon. It has its own intrinsic magnetic field, which generates a small magnetosphere inside Jupiter's magnetosphere. Magnetospheric processes cause auroral light emissions at Ganymede, which has been observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is from these auroral emission lines that we know the atmosphere is dominated by molecular oxygen. We use kinetic simulations to model the acceleration of electrons that cause the auroral emissions. This allows us to make predictions of what ESA's JUICE spacecraft will observe when it enters into orbit around Ganymede in the 2030s.
