Investigation of Earth's Bow Shock Characteristic Using Data Retrieved from THEMIS C Spacecraft

This study investigates the properties of the bow shock that occurs in the outermost layer of the Earth's magnetosphere. The properties of this shock wave, whose main cause is the supersonic solar winds, were investigated by analyzing the data obtained from the THEMIS C spacecraft. The data from this spacecraft, which was specially sent to the magnetosphere region by NASA, were obtained from SSCWeb (Satellite Situation Center Web) and CDAWeb (Coordinated Data Analysis Web) platforms, which are also published by NASA. These data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel and exported as statistical tables and graphs. Based on these tables and graphs, it was determined that when the THEMIS C spacecraft entered the magnetosheath region following an inbound trajectory by overcoming the bow shock and entered the magnetosphere by passing the magnetopause. A comparison of the data before and after the bow shock showed that the bow shock at the inspected time interval was quite strong and reduced the speed of the solar wind by about one-third.