PLASMA IN THE HELIOSHEATH: 3.5 YEARS OF OBSERVATIONS

Journal Article · Fri Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/734/1/L21· OSTI ID:21562609

Richardson, J D ^[1]; Wang, C ^[2]

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1. Kavli Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139 (United States)
2. State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)

Voyager 2 (V2) has observed heliosheath (HSH) plasma since 2007 August. We describe how the plasma has evolved across the HSH. We show that the low solar wind dynamic pressure leads to an inward movement of the termination shock (TS) of about 10 AU to a minimum position of 73 AU in 2010. Near the TS large fluctuations are present in the HSH, but these fluctuations decrease as V2 moves further from the TS. The radial speed slowly decreases and the plasma flow slowly turns tailward. The temperature decreases across the HSH. The radial speed in 2011 remains above 100 km s{sup -1}, which implies that V2 is a substantial distance from the heliopause.

• OSTI ID: 21562609
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 734, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/734/1/L21; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
FLUCTUATIONS
HELIOSPHERE
PLASMA
SOLAR WIND
VELOCITY
ATMOSPHERES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR WINDS
VARIATIONS