The Planeterrella, a pedagogic experiment in planetology and plasma physics

Jean Lilensten (1) , Mathieu Barthelemy (1) , Cyril Simon (2, 3) , Philippe Jeanjacquot (4) , Guillaume Gronoff (1)

1 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble
2 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique
3 B.USOC - The Belgian User Support and Operations Centre
4 Lycée Charlie Chaplin

We present here a plasma physics experiment which makes it possible to simulate, in a naive yet useful way, the formation of polar lights. It involves shooting electrons at a magnetized sphere placed in a vacuum chamber. This experiment, inspired by K. Birkeland's Terrella, built at the turn of 19th century, allows the visualization of very many geophysical and astrophysical situations. Although delicate, it is feasible at undergraduate level.

Keywords: Aurora; planetary ionospheres; plasma; the Planeterrella experiment

Jean Lilensten, Mathieu Barthelemy, Cyril Simon, Philippe Jeanjacquot, Guillaume Gronoff. The Planeterrella, a pedagogic experiment in planetology and plasma physics. Acta Geophysica, 2009, 57 (1), pp.220-235. ⟨10.2478/s11600-008-0079-x⟩. ⟨insu-00360061⟩