Related papers: Heliospheric Compression due to Recent Nearby Supe…
A major challenge in solar and heliospheric physics is understanding how highly localized regions, far smaller than 1 degree at the Sun, are the source of solar-wind structures spanning more than 20 degrees near Earth. The Sun's atmosphere…
We have reevaluated recent studies of the effects on Earth by cosmic rays (CRs) from nearby supernovae (SNe) at 100 and 50 pc, in the diffusive transport CR case, here including an early-time suppression at lower CR energies neglected in…
A heliospheric termination shock (HTS) surrounds our solar system at approximately 100 astronomical units from the Sun, where the expanding solar wind (SW) is compressed and heated before encountering the interstellar medium.…
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…
Estimates made in the 1970's indicated that a supernova occurring within tens of parsecs of Earth could have significant effects on the ozone layer. Since that time, improved tools for detailed modeling of atmospheric chemistry have been…
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…
The interaction of the heliosphere with interstellar clouds has attracted interest since the late 1920's, both with a view to explaining apparent quasi-periodic climate "catastrophes" as well as periodic mass extinctions. Until recently,…
The discovery of radionuclides like 60Fe with half-lives of million years in deep-sea crusts and sediments offers the unique possibility to date and locate nearby supernovae. We want to quantitatively establish that the 60Fe enhancement is…
Assuming a Salpeter initial mass function and taking the solar abundances as a representative sample, we explore the sensitivity of nucleosynthesis in massive stars to the truncation of supernova explosions above a certain mass. It is…
Dynamics of the dayside magnetosphere and proton radiation belt was analyzed during unusual magnetic storm on 21 January 2005. We have found that during the storm from 1712 to 2400 UT, the subsolar magnetopause was continuously located…
We present a pioneering model of the interaction between the solar wind and the surrounding interstellar medium that includes the possibility of different pressures in directions parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. The outer…
Approximately 2.8 Myr before the present our planet was subjected to the debris of a supernova explosion. The terrestrial proxy for this event was the discovery of live atoms of 60Fe in a deep-sea ferromanganese crust. The signature for…
Supernova explosions into predecessor stellar winds can lead to particle acceleration, which we suggest can explain most of the observed cosmic rays of the nuclei of Helium and heavier elements, from GeV in particle energies up to near $3…
The recovery of cosmic ray He nuclei of energy ~150-250 MeV/nuc in solar cycle #23 from 2004 to 2010 has been followed at the Earth using IMP and ACE data and at V2 between 74-92 AU and also at V1 beyond the heliospheric termination shock…
We draw attention to recent high explosive (HE) experiments which provide compression of macroscopic amount of matter to high, even record, values of pressure in comparison with other HE experiments. The observed bounce after the…
Voyager 1 has explored the solar wind-interstellar medium interaction region between the Terminal Shock and the Heliopause, following the intensity distribution of the shock accelerated anomalous component of cosmic rays in the MeV energy…
Nearby supernova explosions may cause geological isotope anomalies via the direct deposition of debris or by cosmic-ray spallation in the earth's atmosphere. We estimate the mass of material deposited terrestrially by these two mechanisms,…
Recent studies using 21 cm HI line and $^{13}$CO line observations in the inner part of the Galaxy have resulted in new distances for 30 Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs). 15 of those remnants have observed X-ray spectra, for which…
We investigate the behavior and consequences of the reverse shock that terminates the supersonic expansion of the baryonic wind which is driven by neutrino heating off the surface of (non-magnetized) new-born neutron stars in supernova…
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…