Cometary Ionospheres: An Updated Tutorial

TL;DR

This paper provides an updated overview of cometary ionospheres, integrating recent findings from the Rosetta mission to enhance understanding and modeling of the plasma environment near comet nuclei.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive update on cometary ionospheres post-Rosetta, highlighting confirmed knowledge, overturned assumptions, and remaining uncertainties.

Findings

Updated models of plasma environment near comet nuclei

New insights from Rosetta mission data

Identification of unresolved questions in cometary ionospheres

Abstract

This chapter aims at providing the tools and knowledge to understand and model the plasma environment surrounding comets in the innermost part near the nucleus. In particular, our goal is to give an updated post-Rosetta view of this ionised environment: what we knew, what we confirmed, what we overturned, and what we still do not understand.