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Voyager 2 Hourly Magnetic Field Data from 1990-2004
var authors='Ness, Norman F.';
document.write(authors);
(2025).
Voyager 2 Hourly Magnetic Field Data from 1990-2004.
[Data set].
Space Physics Data Facility.
https://doi.org/10.48322/kjh4-sp20. Accessed on document.write(currentDateStr);.
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ResourceID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAG/1990/PT1H
Description
This data set contains hour averages of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) measurements obtained by the triaxial fluxgate magnetometer (MAG) experiment on Voyager 2. Identical instruments on Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to measure the IMF between Earth and Saturn (10 AU) during the primary Voyager mission. The design and performance yielded absolute accuracies to better than 0.1 nT. In general, each component of the IMF hourly average has an uncertainty of up to (+/- 0.05 nT) in the region beyond 10 AU. More accurate measurements can be obtained by special processing of the data, but it was not feasible to do this for the entire data set included here. The magnetic field magnitude in nT is provided along with angles of the field vector in the spacecraft-centered Heliographic (HG) coordinate system, also known as RTN. The X-HG axis is directed from the Sun to the spacecraft, Y-HG is the cross product of the solar rotation axis and X-HG, and Z-HG completes the orthogonal axis system. The accompanying format description file defines the transformation of the HG angles to vector components. Cartesian coordinates are given for the spacecraft in the sun-centered Inertial Heliographic (IHG) system, where the Z-IHG axis is parallel to the solar rotation axis, X-IHG points towards the ascending node direction of the solar equator's intersection with the Ecliptic, and Y-IHG is parallel to the solar equator and completes the orthogonal system. The MAG instruments are described by K. W. Behannon et al., Space Science Reviews, 21, 235, 1977. The data and coordinates are described by L. F. Burlaga, Space Science Reviews, 39, 255, 1984. These data are from 1990-2004 and do not include spacecraft position data whereas the 1977-1989 data do. The seperation into two data products resulted from the fact that mean fields were falling towards the instrumentation digitization resolution. The Voyager/MAG team temporarily stopped production while they addressed the issue. Subsequent production in 1990 resulted in a similar data set, but without the spacecraft position. This data set is also related to the 1-hour merged Voyager mag and plasma data set. These associations are listed below using the SPASE AssociationID notation.
Metadata Rights
CC0-1.0:
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
Note
CC0 1.0 Universal is the Creative Commons license applicable to all publicly available SPASE metadata descriptions. The actual data/software may be subject to a different license.
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Details
Version:2.7.1
NumericalData
ResourceID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAG/1990/PT1H
NamingAuthority
NASA
ResourceType
NumericalData
ResourceHeader
ResourceName
Voyager 2 Hourly Magnetic Field Data from 1990-2004
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48322/kjh4-sp20
ReleaseDate
2026-07-21 12:08:58Z
RevisionHistory
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2021-03-11 18:39:11Z
Note
Only known prior ReleaseDate of the metadata
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2025-11-14 16:03:01Z
Note
Added PublicationInfo. Added ResourceType and NamingAuthority. Changed http to https in top-level schemaLocation attribute. Fixed version number separator in top-level schemaLocation attribute. Matched version number in schemaLocation attribute to updated value in Version tag. ZCB
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2025-12-04 13:32:37Z
Note
Added MetadataRightsList and RightsList(s). Updated to 2.7.1. ZCB
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2026-02-17 18:48:02Z
Note
Added DOI. TLK
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2026-06-26 13:31:22Z
Note
Add 'Z' to TemporalDescription:TimeSpan:StartDate, TemporalDescription:TimeSpan:StopDate. ZCB
RevisionEvent
ReleaseDate
2026-07-21 12:08:58Z
Note
Added HelioData InformationURL. JWL
Description
This data set contains hour averages of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) measurements obtained by the triaxial fluxgate magnetometer (MAG) experiment on Voyager 2. Identical instruments on Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to measure the IMF between Earth and Saturn (10 AU) during the primary Voyager mission. The design and performance yielded absolute accuracies to better than 0.1 nT. In general, each component of the IMF hourly average has an uncertainty of up to (+/- 0.05 nT) in the region beyond 10 AU. More accurate measurements can be obtained by special processing of the data, but it was not feasible to do this for the entire data set included here. The magnetic field magnitude in nT is provided along with angles of the field vector in the spacecraft-centered Heliographic (HG) coordinate system, also known as RTN. The X-HG axis is directed from the Sun to the spacecraft, Y-HG is the cross product of the solar rotation axis and X-HG, and Z-HG completes the orthogonal axis system. The accompanying format description file defines the transformation of the HG angles to vector components. Cartesian coordinates are given for the spacecraft in the sun-centered Inertial Heliographic (IHG) system, where the Z-IHG axis is parallel to the solar rotation axis, X-IHG points towards the ascending node direction of the solar equator's intersection with the Ecliptic, and Y-IHG is parallel to the solar equator and completes the orthogonal system. The MAG instruments are described by K. W. Behannon et al., Space Science Reviews, 21, 235, 1977. The data and coordinates are described by L. F. Burlaga, Space Science Reviews, 39, 255, 1984. These data are from 1990-2004 and do not include spacecraft position data whereas the 1977-1989 data do. The seperation into two data products resulted from the fact that mean fields were falling towards the instrumentation digitization resolution. The Voyager/MAG team temporarily stopped production while they addressed the issue. Subsequent production in 1990 resulted in a similar data set, but without the spacecraft position. This data set is also related to the 1-hour merged Voyager mag and plasma data set. These associations are listed below using the SPASE AssociationID notation.
Acknowledgement
Use of these data in publications should be accompanied at minimum by acknowledgements of the National Space Science Data Center and the Principal Investigator Norman Ness.
PublicationInfo
Authors
Ness, Norman F.
PublicationDate
2025-11-14 16:03:01Z
PublishedBy
Space Physics Data Facility
Contacts
Role
Person
StartDate
StopDate
Note
1.
PrincipalInvestigator
spase://SMWG/Person/Norman.F.Ness
InformationURL
Name
Data set description page at SPDF
URL
https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/voyager/voyager2/magnetic_fields/ip_1hour_ascii/1990-2004/00readme.txt
InformationURL
Name
HelioData
URL
https://helio.data.nasa.gov/dataset/Voyager2_MAG_1990_PT1H
Description
The HelioData dataset page provides an overview of the dataset with access links, associated variables, and more.
Association
AssociationID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAG/1977/PT1H
AssociationType
PartOf
Association
AssociationID
spase://NASA/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAGandPLS/PT1H
AssociationType
PartOf
PriorIDs
spase://VHO/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAG/1990.PT1H
spase://VSPO/NumericalData/Voyager2/MAG/1990/PT1H
AccessInformation
RepositoryID
spase://SMWG/Repository/NASA/GSFC/SPDF
Availability
Online
AccessRights
Open
RightsList
Rights
SchemeURI
https://spdx.org/licenses/
RightsIdentifierScheme
SPDX
RightsIdentifier
CC0-1.0
RightsURI
https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html
RightsName
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
Note
CC0 1.0 Universal is the Creative Commons license applicable to all publicly available NASA Heliophysics data products
AccessURL
Name
FTPS from SPDF (not with most browsers)
URL
ftps://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/voyager/voyager2/magnetic_fields/ip_1hour_ascii/1990-2004/
AccessURL
Name
HTTPS from SPDF
URL
https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/voyager/voyager2/magnetic_fields/ip_1hour_ascii/1990-2004/
Description
HTTPS from SPDF. Note: this AccessURL element was added by HDPWS.
Format
Text.ASCII
InstrumentIDs
spase://SMWG/Instrument/Voyager2/MAG
MeasurementType
MagneticField
TemporalDescription
TimeSpan
StartDate
1990-01-01 00:00:00Z
StopDate
2004-12-31 23:59:59Z
Cadence
PT1H
ObservedRegion
Heliosphere.NearEarth
ObservedRegion
Heliosphere.Outer
Parameter #1
Name
Spacecraft ID
ParameterKey
Column_1
Description
1 = Voyager-1, 2 = Voyager-2
Support
SupportQuantity
Other
Parameter #2
Name
Year
ParameterKey
Column_2
Description
Decimal Year
Support
SupportQuantity
Temporal
Parameter #3
Name
F1 Mag
ParameterKey
Column_3
Description
Magnetic Field Magnitude computed from high-resolution observations
CoordinateSystem
CoordinateRepresentation
Cartesian
CoordinateSystemName
HG
Field
Qualifier
Magnitude
FieldQuantity
Magnetic
Parameter #4
Name
Elevation Angle
ParameterKey
Column_4
Description
Elevation Angle (degrees) in heliographic coordinates
Units
degrees
CoordinateSystem
CoordinateRepresentation
Cartesian
CoordinateSystemName
HG
Field
Qualifier
DirectionAngle
FieldQuantity
Magnetic
Parameter #5
Name
Azimuthal Angle
ParameterKey
Column_5
Description
Azimuthal Angle (degrees) in heliographic coordinates
Units
degrees
CoordinateSystem
CoordinateRepresentation
Cartesian
CoordinateSystemName
HG
Field
Qualifier
DirectionAngle
FieldQuantity
Magnetic
Parameter #6
Name
F2 Magnitude
ParameterKey
Column_6
Description
The magnetic field strength, F2, computed from the hour averages of the components. The components of B can be computed from F2 and the two angles.
CoordinateSystem
CoordinateRepresentation
Cartesian
CoordinateSystemName
HG
Field
Qualifier
Magnitude
FieldQuantity
Magnetic