THE MAGNETOSPHERES OF THE OUTER PLANETS

The past four years have witnessed the culmination of the initial reconnaissance of the giant outer planets and their magnetospheres. This includes more mature modeling of dynamics of and processes in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, the first detailed reports on the fields and particles environment of Uranus, and the initial reports concerning the magnetosphere of Neptune, first sampled directly by Voyager 2 in August, 1989. Of the major bodies of the outer solar system, only the asteroids and the Pluto/Charon system remain unvisited, although some attention was focused on the latter during this quadrennium. We review work on and our understanding of the magnetospheres of all of the outer planets during the previous four years.