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Plasma and Flows in the Heliosheath

Authors :
Robert B. Decker
John D. Richardson
Source :
Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 577:012021
Publication Year :
2015
Publisher :
IOP Publishing, 2015.

Abstract

Voyager 2 (V2) is now 20 AU deep into the heliosheath; if the heliosheath width were similar to that in the Voyager 1 (V1) direction, then V2 is 2/3 of the way to the heliopause. We present recent V2 observations, compare with observations from V1, and compare with model predictions. The speed of the flows observed by V2 in the heliosheath are, on average, remarkably constant at 150 km/s. The flow angle has changed dramatically, however, and is now over 60° from radial, with more of the turning occurring in the RT than RN planes. These flows are very different than those at V1, where the speed was always below 100 km/s and decreased across the heliosheath. Models predict VR at V2 well, but the the flow angle predictions differ from the observations. The average density and temperature of the plasma decreased by a factor of two in 2008, recovered in 2011, and have not changed significantly since 2011.

Details

ISSN :
17426596
Volume :
577
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........3da4e056c9837bc28c8b836093eb71c4
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/577/1/012021