2011/10/18 by Daniel Jontof-Hutter, Daniel Jontof‐Hutter, Douglas P. Hamilton
Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace engineering #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Dipole #Instability #Jupiter (rocket family) #Magnetic dipole #Magnetic field #Materials science #Mechanics #Orbit (dynamics) #Physics #Planet #Planetary Science and Exploration #Range (aeronautics) #Saturn #Space exploration #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.09.033
21 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Icarus
openalex publication_date 2011/10/18 · arxiv created 2012/01/17 · arxiv updated 2012/01/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the stability of charged dust grains orbiting a planet and subject to gravity and the electromagnetic force. Our numerical models cover a broad range of launch distances from the planetary surface to beyond synchronous orbit, and the full range of charge-to-mass ratios from ions to rocks. Treating the spinning planetary magnetic field as an aligned dipole, we map regions of radial and vertical instability where dust grains are driven to escape or crash into the planet. We derive the boundaries between stable and unstable trajectories analytically, and apply our models to Jupiter, Saturn and the Earth, whose magnetic fields are reasonably well represented by aligned dipoles.