Related papers: The Solar Galactic Environment
Because of the dynamic nature of the interstellar medium, the Sun should have encountered a variety of different interstellar environments in its lifetime. As the solar wind interacts with the surrounding interstellar medium to form a…
At present, the heliosphere is embedded in a warm low density interstellar cloud that belongs to a cloud system flowing through the local standard of rest with a velocity near ~18 km/s. The velocity structure of the nearest interstellar…
Interstellar clouds form the cosmic "ecosystem" through which the Sun moves. Understanding the physical properties of nearby interstellar material, in sufficient detail to evaluate historical variations in the solar galactic environment,…
Over the course of its motion through the Galaxy, our solar system has encountered many interstellar environments of varying characteristics. Interstellar medium (ISM) density variations spanning seven orders of magnitude are commonly seen…
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…
Most planetary systems -- including our own -- are born within stellar clusters, where interactions with neighboring stars can help shape the system architecture. This paper develops an orbit-averaged formalism to characterize the cluster's…
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…
The regions in which stellar winds interact with the interstellar medium, also known as astrospheres, can be observed in detail through the thermal emission of the interstellar dust particles, resided in plasma. Interstellar dust is also…
It is expected that as the Sun travels through the interstellar medium (ISM), there will be different filtration of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) that affect Earth. The effect of GCR on Earth's atmosphere and climate is still uncertain.…
Recent studies have shown that the local environment of the Sun is a complex one with the presence of several supernova shock bubbles and interstellar clouds. Even within this environment, the Sun is moving with a velocity of about 15 km/s…
This paper reviews past research and new studies underway of the local interstellar environment and its changing influence on the heliosphere. The size, shape, and physical properties of the heliosphere outside of the heliopause are…
Several sets of data show that small interstellar grains captured in interstellar magnetic fields draped over the heliosphere appear to polarize the light of nearby stars. The maximum polarization direction is offset in ecliptic longitude…
The boundary conditions of the heliosphere are set by the ionization, density and composition of inflowing interstellar matter. Constraining the properties of the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) at the heliosphere requires radiative transfer…
A satisfactory understanding of the origin of the dependence of galaxy properties on their environment has remained, so far, out of reach. In the light of numerous observational results and substantial theoretical progress obtained for…
The interaction of dust grains originating from the local interstellar cloud with the environment inside the heliosphere is investigated. As a consequence of this interaction the spatial distribution of interstellar dust grains changes with…
The Sun drives a supersonic wind which inflates a giant plasma bubble in our very local interstellar neighborhood, the heliosphere. It is bathed in an extremely variable background of energetic ions and electrons which originate from a…
The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal…
The Ulysses spacecraft has been orbiting the Sun on a highly inclined ellipse almost perpendicular to the ecliptic plane (inclination 79 deg, perihelion distance 1.3 AU, aphelion distance 5.4 AU) since it encountered Jupiter in 1992. The…
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 cluster environment is the site of important transformations in galaxies at a relatively recent cosmological epoch: the galactic morphological types and star formation activity have evolved significantly during the last few Gyrs. How is…