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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Solar wind conditions in the outer heliosphere and the distance to the termination shock

The Plasma Science experiment on the Voyager 2 spacecraft has measured the properties of solar wind protons from 1 to 40.4 AU. We use these observations to discuss the probable location and motion of the termination shock of the solar wind. Assuming that the interstellar pressure is due to a 5 micro-G magnetic field draped over the upstream face of the heliopause, the radial variation of ram pressure implies that the termination shock will be located at an average distance near 89 AU. This distance scales inversely as the assumed field strength. There are also large variations in ram pressure on time scales of tens of days, due primarily to large variations in solar wind density at a given radius. Such rapid changes in the solar wind ram pressure can cause large perturbations in the location of the termination shock. We study the nonequilibrium location of the termination shock as it responds to these ram pressure changes. The results of this study suggest that the position of the termination shock can vary by as much as 10 AU in a single year, depending on the nature of variations in the ram pressure, and that multiple crossings of the termination shock by a given outer heliosphere spacecraft are likely. After the first crossing, such models of shock motion will be useful for predicting the timing of subsequent crossings.

Belcher, John W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Heliospheric hydrogen beyond 15 AU - Evidence for a termination shock

The Voyager and Pioneer 10 spacecraft are moving upstream and downstream into the local interstellar flow, monitoring H Lyman alpha radiation resonantly scattered from heliospheric hydrogen. Voyager Cruise Maneuver observations obtained between 15 and 35 AU reveal that H Lyman alpha intensities in the upstream direction fall as r exp -0.75+/-0.05. Beyond 15 AU downstream, Pioneer 10 intensities fall as r exp -1.07+/-0.1. These trends cannot be simultaneously reproduced using a hot H distribution model that does not include termination shock structure. The Voyager H Lyman alpha intensities also show a distinctive trend to decrease less rapidly with increasing heliocentric distance. Between 15 and 20 AU, Voyager intensities fall as r exp -1, whereas between 30 and 35 AU they fall as r exp -0.35. This flattening trend implies that the upstream H density is increasing rapidly with heliocentric distance beyond about 25 AU. This steepening trend is significant because similar H density gradients are predicted in models which include the effects of the termination shock. Taken together, the Voyager and Pioneer 10 H Lyman alpha observations beyond 15 AU imply the existence of a solar wind termination shock, suggesting that it lies between 70 and 105 AU in the upstream direction.

Hall, D. T.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The masses of CMEs measured in the inner heliosphere

Nearly 200 coronal mass ejections (CME's) detected in the Helios one and two 90 deg zodiacal light photometers, observed from 1975-1983, were catalogued. The Helios spacecraft were in sun centered orbits ranging from 0.3 to 1.0 AU. From the photometer observations of Thomson scattered sunlight in the inner heliosphere, CME masses for a subset of these events were determined using two methods: by integration of the spatial mass distribution viewed by all three photometers at a given time, and by integration of the mass flow over time past a given photometer. The 2nd method depends on CME speeds measured from timing of the peak CME brightness between the 16 deg and 31 deg photometers. This 2nd method yields two measurements of the mass for a given CME. The masses derived by the different measurements are compared. It was found that the CME excess mass values range from 10(exp 15) g to nearly 10(exp 17) g. Over the solar cycle, the results show that the mean mass per CME increases by a factor of 1.5 from solar minimum to solar maximum. The total CME mass at solar maximum is found to be about 15 percent of the total solar wind mass.

Jackson, Bernard V.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The effect of coronal mass ejections on the structure of the heliospheric current sheet

The existence of a stable heliospheric current sheet (HCS) structure near solar cycle maximum was questioned since the recognition that coronal mass ejections (CME's) occur in coronal helmet streamers. Evidence is presented suggesting that pre-existing helmet streamers disrupted or blown out by CME's reform in a time interval much shorter than the life time of the HCS, and that the concept of the HCS has a meaning at any time of thesolar cycle. It appears that the HCS, the current layer that separates adjacent interplanetary magnetic field regions with opposite magnetic polarity, exists throughout the solar cycle, though not always as a thin disk-like sheet. The sheet may be thickened by embedded magnetic ropes formed by CME's, especially near sunspot maximum. The HCS may be used as timing mark in identifying or predicting CME's in the interplanetary medium.

Zhao, Xuepu↗
NASA NTRS1994

Global, quasi-steady dynamics of the distant solar wind. 1: Origin of north-south flows in the outer heliosphere

Regular, large amplitude north-south flow deflections were observed near the heliographic equator by Voyager 2 in the outer heliosphere in 1986. We present results of numerical simulations supporting the idea that these motions are driven by interplanetary dynamical interactions occurring at quasi-steady stream fronts associated with the tilted-dipole coronal magnetic configuration at solar minimum. It is shown that under these conditions the coronal geometry is deeply impressed upon the large scale flow and it determines the disposition and orientation of solar wind structures to great heliocentric distances. The observed predominance of the north-south flow deflections (relative to the east-west deflections) and their observed quasiperiodicity are seen to be a natural consequence of the two-sector tilted-dipole stream structure in which the fronts of successive corotating interaction regions have opposing north-south tilts.

Pizzo, V. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Global, quasi-steady dynamics of the distant solar wind 2: Deformation of the heliospheric current sheet

A three-dimensional (3-D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical model is used to trace global deformations of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) caused by large-scale dynamical interactions associated with corotating solar wind flows. Configurations incorporating the tilted-dipole geometry are investigated out past 30 AU for a variety of dipole tilt angles, alpha. Inclusion of the full, 3-D interplanetary dynamics allows north-south displacements and the east-west warping of the HCS by advective corotational effects to be accurately assessed for the first time. It is found that large-scale spatial correlations between velocity and density imposed at the coronal source (i.e., the geometric arrangement whereby regions of high-speed low-density material lying adjacent to areas of slow, dense flow interact obliquely under the influence of solar rotation) result in a distinctive pattern of deformation of the HCS. For an alpha = 30 deg tilted-dipole example, it is shown that typical zonal variations in radial velocity lead to significant folding of the HCS within about 5 AU of the Sun. By 10 AU, additional sharp bends appear near the latitudinal extremes of the HCS surface, where it is overtaken by shock fronts driven by 3-D corotating interaction regions (CIRs). Moreover, the model suggests that inside about 20 AU, major plasma structures are systematically organized, about the HCS, such that the greatest concentrations of material and magnetic field (the centroids of the 3-D CIR structures) are coincident with the folded crests of the HCS (near heliographic latitudes lambda = +/- alpha). Thus, in these circumstances many of the more interesting dynamical features inconveniently lie well away from the heliographic equator. At larger heliocentric distances, where neighboring CIRs begin to interact strongly, the warping of the HCS abates dramatically and the association between folds in the HCS and major field and density concentrations is weakened and ultimately breaks down. On the basis of the model calculations, quasi-steady deformations and related phenomena should figure prominently in the interplanetary medium, except during those periods when the magnetic dipole and solar spin axes are nearly aligned (alpha is approximately less than 10 deg). Even then, they may be of significance if there are any substantial local warps or kinks in the streamer belt.

Pizzo, V. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Interstellar oxygen, nitrogen and neon in the heliosphere

Oxygen, nitrogen and neon pick-up ions of interstellar origin were detected for the first time with the Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWICS) on board Ulysses. The interstellar origin of these ions is established by the following criteria: (a) they are singly charged, (b) they have the broad velocity distributions characteristic of pick-up ions, with an upper limit of twice the solar wind speed, (c) their relative abundance as a function of distance from the sun corresponds to the theoretical expectation, and (d) there is no relation to a planetary or cometary source. The interstellar abundance ratios He(+)/O(+), N(+)/O(+), Ne(+)/O(+) were investigated. At approximately 5.25 AU in the outermost part of Ulysses' trajectory He(+)/O(+) = 175(sup +70 sub -50) N(+)/O(+) = 0.13(sup +0.05 sub -0.05) and Ne(+)/O(+) = 0.18(sup +0.10 sub -0.07) were determined. For the interstellar gas passing through the termination region and entering the heliosphere (He/O)(sub 0) = 290(sup +190 sub -100), (N/O)(sub 0) = 0.13(sup +0.06 sub -0.06) and (Ne/O)(sub 0) = 0.20(sup +0.12 sub -0.09) were obtained from the pick-up ion measurements. Upper limits for the relative abundances of C(+) and C were also determined.

Geiss, J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Flow downstream of the heliospheric terminal shock: Magnetic field line topology and solar cycle imprint

The topology of the magnetic field in the heliosheath is illustrated using plots of the field lines. It is shown that the Archimedean spiral inside the terminal shock is rotated back in the heliosheath into nested spirals that are advected in the direction of the interstellar wind. The 22-year solar magnetic cycle is imprinted onto these field lines in the form of unipolar magnetic envelopes surrounded by volumes of strongly mixed polarity. Each envelope is defined by the changing tilt of the heliospheric current sheet, which is in turn defined by the boundary of unipolar high-latitude regions on the Sun that shrink to the pole at solar maximum and expand to the equator at solar minimum. The detailed shape of the envelopes is regulated by the solar wind velocity structure in the heliosheath.

Nerney, Steven↗
NASA NTRS1993

Disappearance of the heliospheric sector structure at Ulysses

In May, 1993, the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) ceased to be seen by the Ulysses spacecraft at a heliocentric latitude of approximately 30 deg S and distance of 4.7 AU. The disappearance of the HCS coincided with the solar wind speed remaining greater than 560 km/s and with the disappearance of one of four interaction regions previously seen on each solar rotation. The heliographic latitude of the disappearance of the HCS at Ulysses was 11 deg equatorward of the latitude of the magnetic neutral sheet computed at the source surface at 2.5 solar radii, and it occurred a half year earlier than predicted on the basis of the persistance of the time profile of the neutral sheet tilt from one solar cycle to the next.

Smith, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Element Abundance Variations in the Sun and Heliosphere; Meeting E2.1 of the COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 30th, Hamburg, Germany, July 11-21, 1994

A conference on advances in space research related to element abundance variations in the sun and heliosphere produced related papers. The areas addressed in these papers included abundance variations in the solar wind, element abundances in the solar corona, iron abundance in the solar photosphere and corona, iron and calcium abundances during solar flares, helium abundance in the solar corona, element abundances in the solar interior, energetic particle abundances, fluxes of low-energy ions, and solar models. The primary source of data was space-based measurements.

Bely-Dubau, F.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Ulysses observations of latitude gradients in the heliospheric magnetic field

Several parameters measured by Ulysses as it traveled southward to heliographic latitudes of -50 deg are presented and analyzed. The radial component of the magnetic field, averaged over 5 deg latitude increments and extrapolated back to 1 AU, is found to agree with baseline measurements provided by IMP-8. There is little, if any, evidence of a latitude gradient, a result consistent with the dominance of the magnetic field associated with the heliospheric current sheet and with recent models which include the effect of the current sheet as well as of source surface fields. Thus far, the spiral angle agrees with the Parker spiral assuming a rate of rotation of the field lines at the Sun equal to the equatorial value. No evidence is seen of either a change in rotation rate with latitude or an unwinding of the spiral as suggested by a recent analysis. Hourly variances in the field magnitude and in the sum of the variances in the components, normalized to the square of the observed field strenght, show the former to be independent of latitude while the latter shows a strong increase with latitude. These two observations are shown to be associated with Alfven waves that are continuously present at high latitudes. The waves have large amplitudes, extend to long periods, and have important implications for galactic cosmic rays and the solar wind.

Smith, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The distance to the heliospheric VLF emission region

Two major episodes of heliospheric VLF emissions near 3 kHz have been observed by the Voyager spacecraft in 1983/84 and 1992/3. This higher-frequency component is apparently triggered by solar wind transients with sufficiently large spatial extents and energies to continue to propagate as shocks in the heliosheath. Entrainment of previously unshocked material and changed flow conditions in the heliosheath both tend to slow the shock propagation. The shock evolution is not self-similar. Rather, it is intermediate to two blast-wave similarity solutions in the moving solar wind frame. In one solution the shock moves as time to the 2/3 power and in the other as time to the 4/5 power. Using these models, the shock/Forbush decrease observed at Voyager 2 in September, 1991 and the turn-on of the 1992 emission is consistent with an emission region distance of approximately 130 AU (assuming no additional slowing of the shock in the heliosheath). If the termination shock was at approximately 70 AU when the transient shock collided with it, the true distance to the source region was probably closer to approximately 115 AU.

Mcnutt, R. L., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Ulysses radio observations of the heliospheric activity in early June 1991

The radio receiver of the URAP (Unified Radio and Plasma Wave) experiment on Ulysses has recorded a heliospheric activity particularly intense between late May and early June 1991. Many solar radio emissions of types III and II were observed together with interplanetary (IP) shocks. In the same time, the radio spectrograph ARTEMIS at Nancay (France) observed several intense type II bursts. We investigate the association and/or interaction of these radio emissions, which are remotely observed, with some IP shocks detected in situ, in the context of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) induced scenario.

Hoang, S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Effects of the intense solar activity of March/June 1991 observed in the outer heliosphere

The properties of the large-scale global merged interaction region (GMIR) generated by the intense solar events of March and June 1991 are studied using the available solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, and energetic particle data from the observing network of Pioneer 10 and Voyagers 1 and 2 in the outer heliosphere. At heliocentric distances extending to 55 AU the delayed effects of this enhanced solar activity are observed in the form of large inceases in the solar wind velocity and interplanetary magnetic field and significant decreases in the galactic cosmic ray intensity. For low-energy ions (5-MeV protons) there was a single long-lived event extending over a period of some 6 months. Near the strongest interplanetary disturbances the H and He spectra are best represented by similar exponentials in momentum/nucleon (i.e., particle velocity at these at these energies). Over the rest of the event the characteristic momentum for He, (P(sub 0))(sub He) is generally approximately 0.66 for hydrogen. These spectra and the consistently low H/He ratio (25.3) at 2 MeV/nucleon closely resemble that observed in corrotating interaction regions events. Despite the strong north/south asymmetry in the solar activity, the interplanetary disturbances produced the same net decrease in the galactic cosmic ray intensity of ions greater than 70 MeV at the three widely separated spacecraft when the effects of the long-term recovery are taken into account. A comparison of the relative intensity of MeV ions at these three spacecraft suggest that the most intense solar events occurred on the back side of the Sun in time periods adjacent to the March and June episodes of solar activity. It is argued that this GMIR as a system is responsible for the low-frequency radio emission observed by the Voyager Plasma Wave experiment some 1.46 years after the onset of the March 1991 activity.

Mcdonald, F. B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Optimum transfer to a large-amplitude halo orbit for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), built by the European Space Agency to study the Sun as part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Program, will be launched in July 1995 into a transfer trajectory that terminates in a large-amplitude halo orbit. The spacecraft will enter the halo orbit by performing one insertion maneuver at a specified point on the halo orbit. The position on the halo orbit that requires the least fuel for the insertion maneuver is identified using the planar, circular restricted three-body problem as a model. Fuel costs for halo orbit insertion at other points in the orbit are also identified. Practical trajectories incorporating all significant accelerations are discussed. The use of a lunar swingby to avoid any insertion maneuver is mentioned.

Stalos, S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Distances to the termination shock and heliopause from a simulation analysis of the 1992-93 heliospheric radio emission event

A new heliospheric radio emission event observed by Voyagers 1 and 2 in mid-1992 is believed to have been produced by the interaction of an interplanetary shock with the heliopause. The shock is thought to have oriented near the Sun during a period of intense solar activity in late-May and early-June, 1991. The observed travel time of the shock to the heliopause is 408 days; the initial speed is estimated to be between 600 and 800 km/s. We use a numerical gasdynamic simulation of an interplanetary shock, propagating through an equilibrium solution of the solar wind/interstellar medium interaction, to compute the distances to the termination shock and the heliopause that are consistent with these observations. For a shock speed of 600 km/s, the termination shock is located at 92 AU, and the heliopause is located at 128 AU. These distances increase to 112 AU and 156 AU when the shock speed is increased to 800 km/s.

Steinolfson, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Motion of the heliospheric termination shock. 4: MHD effects

In this paper we generalize earlier gasdynamic analyses of the motion of the heliospheric termination shock in response to upstream disturbances (Barnes, 1993, 1994; Naidu and Barnes, 1994), to include magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) phenomena. We assume that the termination shock is a strong, perpendicular shock and that the initial upstream disturbance is a tangential discontinuity. The resulting configuration after the interaction is very similar to that in the gasdynamic models after an interaction with a contact discontinuity or interplanetary shock, and for an increase (decrease) in dynamic pressure consists of an outward (inward) propagating termination shock and an outward propagating shock (MHD rarefraction wave) that carries the signal of the disturbance into the far downstream plasma. The plasma immediately behind the new termination shock is separated from the downstream signal by a tangential discontinuity. The results of the model show that the speed of the new termination shock depends mainly on the magnitude of the change in dynamic pressure and are typically of order approximately 100 km/s, comparable to the results of the gasdynamic models.

Naidu, Kamcilla↗
NASA NTRS1995

Solar wind eddies and the heliospheric current sheet

Ulysses has collected data between 1 and 5 AU during, and just following solar maximum, when the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) can be thought of as reaching its maximum tilt and being subject to the maximum amount of turbulence in the solar wind. The Ulysses solar wind plasma instrument measures the vector velocity and can be used to estimate the flow speed and direction in turbulent 'eddies' in the solar wind that are a fraction of an astronomical unit in size and last (have either a turnover or dynamical interaction time of) several hours to more than a day. Here, in a simple exercise, these solar wind eddies at the HCS are characterized using Ulysses data. This character is then used to define a model flow field with eddies that is imposed on an ideal HCS to estimate how the HCS will be deformed by the flow. This model inherently results in the complexity of the HCS increasing with heliocentric distance, but the result is a measure of the degree to which the observed change in complexity is a measure of the importance of solar wind flows in deforming the HCS. By comparison with randomly selected intervals not located on the HCS, it appears that eddies on the HCS are similar to those elsewhere at this time during the solar cycle, as is the resultant deformation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The IMF deformation is analogous to what is often termed the 'random walk' of interplanetary magnetic field lines.

Suess, S. T.↗