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Richardson JD, Burlaga LF, Elliott H, Kurth WS, Liu YD, von Steiger R. Observations of the Outer Heliosphere, Heliosheath, and Interstellar Medium. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS 2022; 218:35. [PMID: 35664862 DOI: 10.1007/s11214-006-9023-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The Voyager spacecraft have left the heliosphere and entered the interstellar medium, making the first observations of the termination shock, heliosheath, and heliopause. New Horizons is observing the solar wind in the outer heliosphere and making the first direct observations of solar wind pickup ions. This paper reviews the observations of the solar wind plasma and magnetic fields throughout the heliosphere and in the interstellar medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- J D Richardson
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - L F Burlaga
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 673, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - H Elliott
- Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228 USA
| | - W S Kurth
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
| | - Y D Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - R von Steiger
- Universität Bern, Bern, 2 Switzerland
- International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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2
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Richardson JD, Burlaga LF, Elliott H, Kurth WS, Liu YD, von Steiger R. Observations of the Outer Heliosphere, Heliosheath, and Interstellar Medium. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS 2022; 218:35. [PMID: 35664862 DOI: 10.1007/s11214-011-9825-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The Voyager spacecraft have left the heliosphere and entered the interstellar medium, making the first observations of the termination shock, heliosheath, and heliopause. New Horizons is observing the solar wind in the outer heliosphere and making the first direct observations of solar wind pickup ions. This paper reviews the observations of the solar wind plasma and magnetic fields throughout the heliosphere and in the interstellar medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- J D Richardson
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - L F Burlaga
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 673, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - H Elliott
- Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228 USA
| | - W S Kurth
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
| | - Y D Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - R von Steiger
- Universität Bern, Bern, 2 Switzerland
- International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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Richardson JD, Burlaga LF, Elliott H, Kurth WS, Liu YD, von Steiger R. Observations of the Outer Heliosphere, Heliosheath, and Interstellar Medium. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS 2022; 218:35. [PMID: 35664862 PMCID: PMC9156517 DOI: 10.1007/s11214-022-00899-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The Voyager spacecraft have left the heliosphere and entered the interstellar medium, making the first observations of the termination shock, heliosheath, and heliopause. New Horizons is observing the solar wind in the outer heliosphere and making the first direct observations of solar wind pickup ions. This paper reviews the observations of the solar wind plasma and magnetic fields throughout the heliosphere and in the interstellar medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. D. Richardson
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - L. F. Burlaga
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 673, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - H. Elliott
- Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228 USA
| | - W. S. Kurth
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
| | - Y. D. Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - R. von Steiger
- Universität Bern, Bern, 2 Switzerland
- International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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Palmerio E, Nieves‐Chinchilla T, Kilpua EKJ, Barnes D, Zhukov AN, Jian LK, Witasse O, Provan G, Tao C, Lamy L, Bradley TJ, Mays ML, Möstl C, Roussos E, Futaana Y, Masters A, Sánchez‐Cano B. Magnetic Structure and Propagation of Two Interacting CMEs From the Sun to Saturn. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH. SPACE PHYSICS 2021; 126:e2021JA029770. [PMID: 35864948 PMCID: PMC9286593 DOI: 10.1029/2021ja029770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
One of the grand challenges in heliophysics is the characterization of coronal mass ejection (CME) magnetic structure and evolution from eruption at the Sun through heliospheric propagation. At present, the main difficulties are related to the lack of direct measurements of the coronal magnetic fields and the lack of 3D in-situ measurements of the CME body in interplanetary space. Nevertheless, the evolution of a CME magnetic structure can be followed using a combination of multi-point remote-sensing observations and multi-spacecraft in-situ measurements as well as modeling. Accordingly, we present in this work the analysis of two CMEs that erupted from the Sun on April 28, 2012. We follow their eruption and early evolution using remote-sensing data, finding indications of CME-CME interaction, and then analyze their interplanetary counterpart(s) using in-situ measurements at Venus, Earth, and Saturn. We observe a seemingly single flux rope at all locations, but find possible signatures of interaction at Earth, where high-cadence plasma data are available. Reconstructions of the in-situ flux ropes provide almost identical results at Venus and Earth but show greater discrepancies at Saturn, suggesting that the CME was highly distorted and/or that further interaction with nearby solar wind structures took place before 10 AU. This work highlights the difficulties in connecting structures from the Sun to the outer heliosphere and demonstrates the importance of multi-spacecraft studies to achieve a deeper understanding of the magnetic configuration of CMEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika Palmerio
- Space Sciences LaboratoryUniversity of California–BerkeleyBerkeleyCAUSA
- CPAESSUniversity Corporation for Atmospheric ResearchBoulderCOUSA
| | | | | | - David Barnes
- STFC RAL SpaceRutherford Appleton LaboratoryHarwell CampusOxfordshireUK
| | - Andrei N. Zhukov
- Solar–Terrestrial Centre of Excellence—SIDCRoyal Observatory of BelgiumBrusselsBelgium
- Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear PhysicsMoscow State UniversityMoscowRussia
| | - Lan K. Jian
- Heliophysics Science DivisionNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltMDUSA
| | | | - Gabrielle Provan
- School of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of LeicesterLeicesterUK
| | - Chihiro Tao
- National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)KoganeiJapan
| | - Laurent Lamy
- LESIAObservatoire de ParisPSLCNRSUPMCUniversité Paris DiderotMeudonFrance
- LAMPythéasAix Marseille UniversitéCNRSCNESMarseilleFrance
| | | | - M. Leila Mays
- Heliophysics Science DivisionNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltMDUSA
| | - Christian Möstl
- Space Research InstituteAustrian Academy of SciencesGrazAustria
- Institute of GeodesyGraz University of TechnologyGrazAustria
| | - Elias Roussos
- Max Planck Institute for Solar System ResearchGöttingenGermany
| | | | - Adam Masters
- The Blackett LaboratoryImperial College LondonLondonUK
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Good SW, Forsyth RJ, Eastwood JP, Möstl C. Correlation of ICME Magnetic Fields at Radially Aligned Spacecraft. SOLAR PHYSICS 2018; 293:52. [PMID: 29568139 PMCID: PMC5845089 DOI: 10.1007/s11207-018-1264-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The magnetic field structures of two interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), each observed by a pair of spacecraft close to radial alignment, have been analysed. The ICMEs were observed in situ by MESSENGER and STEREO-B in November 2010 and November 2011, while the spacecraft were separated by more than 0.6 AU in heliocentric distance, less than 4° in heliographic longitude, and less than 7° in heliographic latitude. Both ICMEs took approximately two days to travel between the spacecraft. The ICME magnetic field profiles observed at MESSENGER have been mapped to the heliocentric distance of STEREO-B and compared directly to the profiles observed by STEREO-B. Figures that result from this mapping allow for easy qualitative assessment of similarity in the profiles. Macroscale features in the profiles that varied on timescales of one hour, and which corresponded to the underlying flux rope structure of the ICMEs, were well correlated in the solar east-west and north-south directed components, with Pearson's correlation coefficients of approximately 0.85 and 0.95, respectively; microscale features with timescales of one minute were uncorrelated. Overall correlation values in the profiles of one ICME were increased when an apparent change in the flux rope axis direction between the observing spacecraft was taken into account. The high degree of similarity seen in the magnetic field profiles may be interpreted in two ways. If the spacecraft sampled the same region of each ICME (i.e. if the spacecraft angular separations are neglected), the similarity indicates that there was little evolution in the underlying structure of the sampled region during propagation. Alternatively, if the spacecraft observed different, nearby regions within the ICMEs, it indicates that there was spatial homogeneity across those different regions. The field structure similarity observed in these ICMEs points to the value of placing in situ space weather monitors well upstream of the Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. W. Good
- The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R. J. Forsyth
- The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - J. P. Eastwood
- The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - C. Möstl
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria
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Kilpua E, Koskinen HEJ, Pulkkinen TI. Coronal mass ejections and their sheath regions in interplanetary space. LIVING REVIEWS IN SOLAR PHYSICS 2017; 14:5. [PMID: 31997985 PMCID: PMC6956910 DOI: 10.1007/s41116-017-0009-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2017] [Accepted: 10/03/2017] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are large-scale heliospheric transients that originate from the Sun. When an ICME is sufficiently faster than the preceding solar wind, a shock wave develops ahead of the ICME. The turbulent region between the shock and the ICME is called the sheath region. ICMEs and their sheaths and shocks are all interesting structures from the fundamental plasma physics viewpoint. They are also key drivers of space weather disturbances in the heliosphere and planetary environments. ICME-driven shock waves can accelerate charged particles to high energies. Sheaths and ICMEs drive practically all intense geospace storms at the Earth, and they can also affect dramatically the planetary radiation environments and atmospheres. This review focuses on the current understanding of observational signatures and properties of ICMEs and the associated sheath regions based on five decades of studies. In addition, we discuss modelling of ICMEs and many fundamental outstanding questions on their origin, evolution and effects, largely due to the limitations of single spacecraft observations of these macro-scale structures. We also present current understanding of space weather consequences of these large-scale solar wind structures, including effects at the other Solar System planets and exoplanets. We specially emphasize the different origin, properties and consequences of the sheaths and ICMEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Kilpua
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hannu E. J. Koskinen
- Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Finnish Meteorological Institute, Espoo, Finland
| | - Tuija I. Pulkkinen
- Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
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