Voyager 1 Plasma Data: Hourly Averaged Solar Wind Measurements
Updated 3mo ago
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Description
Hourly averaged plasma data from the Voyager 1 spacecraft's Faraday-cup detectors, measuring solar wind ions and electrons. The data includes velocity, density, and pressure parameters, fitted to a convected isotropic Maxwellian distribution with specified error margins. Collected by NASA, the dataset was last updated in March 2026.
Use Cases
Modeling solar wind propagation based on velocity and density parameters.
Analyzing plasma flow regimes from subsonic to supersonic based on the described energy scan coverage.
Studying temporal variations in the solar wind using the one-hour averaged time-series data.
Validating heliospheric simulation outputs against in-situ spacecraft measurements.
Strengths
Data includes one-sigma errors, with speed and VR errors typically less than 0.5%.
Parameters are derived from a best-fit convected isotropic Maxwellian distribution.
Original sampling times ranged from 12 to 192 seconds, providing a high-resolution source for the hourly averages.
Limitations
Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
Source
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Collection Method
Measurements from two Faraday-cup detectors on the Voyager 1 spacecraft, with data processed into one-hour averages.
Time Range
Covers the Voyager 1 mission timeline; sampling was more frequent early in the mission.
Freshness
Last updated 2026-03-13 05:16:45.325766; freshness should be verified.
Geography
Interplanetary space along Voyager 1's trajectory.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified'; terms should be reviewed before use.