About Me
I am a doctoral candidate in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, studying space physics as a member of the MOSS research group.
Research Interests
The dwarf planet Pluto possesses an incredibly unique induced magnetosphere: it is shaped by immense ion gyration and occupied by two bodies of comparable size (the other being Pluto's largest moon/binary companion, Charon).
The goal of my work is to understand the extreme interaction that the New Horizons spacecraft observed between Pluto and the local population of energetic heliospheric ions during its flyby of the system in 2015.
This is achieved through the development of novel energetic particle tracing models, specialized to account for Pluto's exceptional circumstances.
Publications
Dynamics of Energetic Heliospheric Ions in Pluto's Induced Magnetosphere
R. Ruch, S. Simon, C. M. Haynes (2025). Dynamics of energetic heliospheric ions in Pluto's induced magnetosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 130, e2024JA033548, doi: 10.1029/2024JA033548, 2025.
Presentations
Talks
R. Ruch, C. M. Haynes, and S. Simon. Energetic Ion Dynamics in Pluto's Induced Magnetosphere. AGU Fall Meeting, Washington, D.C., USA, 9-13 December, 2024.
R. Ruch, S. Simon, and C. M. Haynes. Energetic Ion Dynamics in Pluto's Induced Magnetosphere. EuroPlanet Science Congress, Berlin, Germany, 8-13 September, 2024.
Posters
R. Ruch, P. Addison, T. Tippens, C. M. Haynes, P. Kollmann, S. Simon, and A. Stahl. Model of Pluto's Induced Magnetosphere and its Interaction with Energetic Heliospheric Ions. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 11-15 December, 2023.
Curriculum Vitae
You can find a copy of my CV here.