Related papers: The Heliosphere in Time
Context. The heliosphere is formed by the interaction between the solar wind (SW) plasma emanating from the Sun and a magnetised component of local interstellar medium (LISM) inflowing on the Sun. A separation surface called the heliopause…
Measurements of the velocity of interstellar HeI inside of the heliosphere have been conducted over the past forty years. These historical data suggest that the ecliptic longitude of the direction of the interstellar flow has increased at…
Since its formation 4.6 billion years ago, our solar system has most likely crossed numerous magnetized interstellar clouds and bubbles of different sizes and contents on its path through the Milky Way. Having a reference model for how the…
The physical properties and kinematics of the partially ionized interstellar material near the Sun are typical of warm diffuse clouds in the solar vicinity. The interstellar magnetic field at the heliosphere and the kinematics of nearby…
Speculations that encounters with interstellar clouds modify the terrestrial climate have appeared in the scientific literature for over 85 years. This article introduces a series of articles that seek to give substance to these…
The development of our understanding of the gaseous component of the interstellar medium is reviewed. During the 20th century our picture of diffuse material in space has grown from a simple model of isolated clouds in thermal equilibrium…
A range of astronomical data indicates that ancient supernovae created the galactic environment of the Sun and sculpted the physical properties of the interstellar medium near the heliosphere. In this paper we review the characteristics of…
On its journey through the Galaxy, the Sun passes through diverse regions of the interstellar medium. High-resolution spectroscopic measurements of interstellar absorption lines in spectra of nearby stars show absorption components from…
Modeling of the global heliosphere seeks to investigate the interaction of the solar wind with the partially ionized local interstellar medium. Models that treat neutral hydrogen self-consistently and in great detail, together with the…
The shape of the solar wind bubble within the interstellar medium, the so-called heliosphere, has been explored over six decades. As the Sun moves through the surrounding partially-ionized medium, neutral hydrogen atoms penetrate the…
This paper addresses the fundamental science question: "How does solar wind energy flow through the Earth's magnetosphere, how is it converted and distributed?". We need to understand how the Sun creates the heliosphere, and how the planets…
The definition of nearby star systems is incomplete without an understanding of the dynamical interaction between the stars and ambient interstellar material. The Sun itself has been immersed in the Local Bubble interior void for millions…
During the solar journey through galactic space, variations in the physical properties of the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM) modify the heliosphere and modulate the flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) at the surface of the Earth, with…
Observations of interstellar gas and dust towards nearby stars and within the solar system show that the Sun is embedded in a warm diffuse partially-ionized cloud. This cloud is the leading edge of a flow of interstellar matter (ISM)…
The low density interstellar medium (ISM) close to the Sun and inside of the heliosphere provides a unique laboratory for studying interstellar dust grains. Grain characteristics in the nearby ISM are obtained from observations of…
The Sun is moving through a warm ($\sim$6500 K) and partly ionized local interstellar cloud (LIC) with a velocity of $\sim$26 km/s. Recent measurements of the ionization of the LIC (Wolff et al., 1999) suggest that interstellar helium in…
The solar wind (SW) and local interstellar medium (LISM) are turbulent media. Their interaction is governed by complex physical processes and creates heliospheric regions with significantly different properties in terms of particle…
The interstellar cloud surrounding the solar system regulates the galactic environment of the Sun and constrains the physical characteristics of the interplanetary medium. This paper compares interstellar dust grain properties observed…
Recent research raises the possibility that 3 and 7 million years ago, the Sun encountered massive clouds that shrank the heliosphere--the solar cocoon protecting our solar system--exposing Earth to its interstellar environment, in…
Aims: We offer a new, simpler picture of the local interstellar medium, made of a single continuous cloud enveloping the Sun. This new outlook enables the description of a diffuse cloud from within and brings to light some unexpected…