Do planets produce eddys behind them in the solar wind?

It is actually very complicated, but my impression is that the amount of turbulence in the wake of a planet is not that high because planetary velocities ( < 30 km/sec) are quite low compared to the speed of the wind ( 400 km/sec). Instead of a turbulent flow with eddys and vortices at high magnetic Reynolds number, you are probably in the limit of low Reynolds number with flow along streamlines.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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