Journal Article

Three-dimensional Particle-in-cell Simulations of the Solar Wind Interaction with Asteroid 2016 HO3

Xie, Lianghai, Zhou, Bin, Zhang, Yiteng, Feng, Yongyong, Wang, Jindong, Li, Lei

2023

Overview

The recently discovered asteroid 2016 HO3 is the most stable quasi-satellite of our Earth. Several missions to 2016 HO3 have been proposed, including the Tianwen-2 mission of China. Here we study the solar wind interaction with 2016 HO3 with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the sunlit surface can be positively charged to more than +10 V, and the shadowed surface is negatively charged to lower than −30 V. The typical electric field on the sunlit surface is about 2 V m−1 but can increase up to 20 V m−1 near the terminator. There is a plasma wake behind 2016 HO3 with a reduced plasma density. Normally, the ion density can be reduced to about 0.3 of the solar wind density at 100 m downstream from 2016 HO3, and the plasma wake is confined by a Mach cone with a cone angle of about 6.°5. In addition, we find that both the solar wind parameters and the secondary electron emission can affect the surface charging, which, in return, changes the wake structure.

• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Subject: Asteroids / Charged particles / Electric fields / Electron emission / Ion density / Ion density (concentration) / Near-Earth Objects / Particle in cell technique / Plasma density / Solar wind / Solar wind density / Solar wind parameters