Three-dimensional lunar wake reconstructed from ARTEMIS data

Data from the two‐spacecraft Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun mission to the Moon have been exploited to characterize the lunar wake with unprecedented fidelity. The differences between measurements made by a spacecraft in the solar wind very near the Moon and concurrent measurements made by a second spacecraft in the near lunar wake are small but systematic. They enabled us to establish the perturbations of plasma density, temperature, thermal, magnetic and total pressure, field, and flow downstream of the Moon to distances of 12 lunar radii (RM). The wake disturbances are initiated immediately behind the Moon by the diamagnetic currents at the lunar terminator. Rarefaction waves propagate outward at fast MHD wave velocities. Beyond ~6.5 RM, all plasma and field parameters are poorly structured which suggests the presence of instabilities excited by counter‐streaming particles. Inward flowing plasma accelerated through pressure gradient force and ambipolar electric field compresses the magnetic field and leads to continuous increase in magnitude of magnetic perturbations. Besides the downstream distance, the field perturbation magnitude is also a function of the solar wind ion beta and the angle between the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Both ion and electron temperatures increase as a consequence of an energy dispersion effect, whose explanation requires fully kinetic models. Downstream of the Moon, the IMF field lines are observed to bulge toward the Moon, which is unexpected and may be caused by a plasma pressure gradient force or/and the pickup of heavy charged dust grains behind the Moon. Key Points The 3‐D lunar wake is studied with well‐determined solar wind conditions The field lines bend in the wake due to flow deceleration The 3‐D wake structure is investigated by observation data