Voyager 2 Neptune Plasma Science: Derived Electron Density and Temperature

Derived electron parameters from the Voyager 2 spacecraft's Plasma Science instrument during its Neptune encounter. The data includes electron density and temperature values, calculated by fitting electron spectra to isotropic Maxwellian distribution functions. The dataset is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling Neptune's magnetospheric structure based on derived electron density and temperature.
• Analyzing plasma composition and behavior from fitted Maxwellian distribution functions.
• Studying spacecraft charging effects on plasma density measurements in deep space.
• Comparing electron parameters derived from different analysis methods (e.g., Maxwellian Fit, Method of Moments).

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative Voyager 2 mission conducted by NASA.
• Parameters are derived using multiple analysis methods for different encounter regions to improve density estimates.
• Electron temperature measurements are described as independent of spacecraft potential.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Key sampling parameters (minimum, maximum, interval) are listed as unknown (UNK).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Voyager 2 Plasma Science (PLS) instrument measurements, with spectra fit to Maxwellian distributions.

Time Range

Covers the Voyager 2 Neptune encounter period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:01:33.110855; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Data collected at Neptune.