File: VY1PLA_1H_FMT.txt Version: 12/30/98 MIT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The files in this directory contain Voyager hourly average plasma data. The plasma parameters are obtained by finding the best fit of a convected isotropic Maxwellian distribution to the data. One sigma errors are typically less than 0.5% in the speed and VR, less than 5% for the density and thermal speed, and vary greatly for VT and VN. Sampling times range from 12 to 192 sec., with sampling generally more frequent early in the mission. The columns are: 1) Year 2) day of year (day 1 is Jan. 1) 3) hour 4) proton speed in km/s (magnitude of V) 5) proton density in cm-3 6) proton thermal speed in km/s (proton temperature in eV = .0052 times the square of the thermal speed) 7) VR 8) VT (WARNING: this parameter is often NOT reliable after 1989) 9) VN (WARNING: this parameter is often NOT reliable after 1989) The velocity components are given in the RTN coordinate system, where R is radially outward, T is in a plane parallel to the solar equatorial plane and positive in the direction of solar rotation, and N completes a right-handed system. The filename format is as follows: sc_type_start_end_dis.suff where any of these may be missing. sc is Space Craft v1 or v2 type is type of data, usually the same as the directory name, (e.g. sedr ha ) start start time year.day.hour ( day and hour may be missing) end end time year.day.hour ( day and hour may be missing) dis descriptor, if any addition processing is needed, (e.g. filt implies the data has been filtered, see README in that directory.) suff suffix, Z, gz implies the type of compression etc. The formats may describe more fields that the data sets contain. In that case, the fields in the description should just be ignored. In some cases, 00000 is used as a fill, and implies the that data is unavailable. Common sense is required to distinguish missing data from true zeros. Please consult with us, or at least send preprints, when you use this data to prevent grievous errors or misconceptions. (John Richardson, jdr@space.mit.edu)