STEREO-B PLASTIC: Solar Wind Alpha Particle Plasma Parameters

One-hour averaged solar wind parameters from the STEREO-B spacecraft's PLASTIC instrument. The data includes alpha particle flow speed, density, thermal speed, alpha to proton density ratio, and proton-alpha flow speed difference. This dataset is produced by NASA and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Model solar wind propagation based on alpha particle flow speed and thermal speed.
• Study plasma composition ratios based on the alpha to proton density ratio.
• Analyze inter-species dynamics based on the proton-alpha flow speed difference.
• Correlate plasma density with solar activity based on alpha particle density.

Strengths

• Data is averaged to a 1-hour resolution, providing a consistent temporal scale.
• Includes multiple key plasma parameters: flow speed, density, thermal speed, and species ratios.
• Produced by NASA, an authoritative source for space science data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified as the last update timestamp is in the future (2026).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by the PLASTIC instrument on the STEREO-B spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 11:01:39.806811