Determination of the physical Hydrogen parameters of the LIC from within the Heliosphere

Leader: Eberhard Möbius,     E-Mail
  Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space & Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire

Members:

• Maciej Bzowski, E-Mail
   Space Research Centre, Warsaw, Poland
• Hans-Jörg Fahr, E-Mail
  Institut für extraterrestrische Forschung, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• Priscilla Frisch, E-Mail
  Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
• Pradip Gangopadhyay, E-Mail
  Space Science Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• George Gloeckler, E-Mail
  Dept. of Physics and IPST, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
   & Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
• Vlad Izmodenov, E-Mail
  Department of Mechanics and Mathematics, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
• Rosine Lallement, E-Mail
   Service d'Aéronomie du CRNS, Verrieres-le-Buisson, France
• Hans-Reinhard Müller, E-Mail
  Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA
  & IGPP, University of California, Riverside, CA USA
• Anuschka Pauluhn, E-Mail
  International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland
• Wayne Pryor, E-Mail
   Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA
• John Raymond, E-Mail
   Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA
• John Richardson, E-Mail
  Space Science Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
• John Slavin, E-Mail
  Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA
• Manfred Witte, E-Mail
  Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

Restricted Site for Team Members

Executive Summary

After a similar ISSI Team activity has led to the compilation of a bench mark set of physical parameters for interstellar helium, we plan to bring together a set of complementary data sets towards a coordinated analysis of interstellar hydrogen. With UV backscattering observations available from SOHO, Ulysses, Galileo, Cassini, Voyager and Pioneer, pickup ions on Ulysses, the interstellar gas related deceleration of the solar wind observed on Voyager 2, and Voyager 1 expected to cross the termination shock within the coming 5 to 10 years, we are in a unique situation to derive the state of our local galactic environment from observations inside the heliosphere. As for He we can clearly anticipate a benchmark set of physical parameters for H from the planned coordinated data analysis together with global heliosphere modeling. Combined with the He results, the coordinated H analysis will provide information on the filtration of the interstellar gas on its way into the heliosphere and it will constrain substantially the composition and ionization state of the local interstellar cloud (LIC). Based on this information also the radiation environment of the LIC will be constrained.

The full proposal can be downloaded as a PDF File.

First Meeting of the Team at ISSI: February 16 - 20, 2004

Next Meeting of the Team at ISSI: November 3 - 7, 2004

Useful Links

• The work of this ISSI Team builds on the results of a previous Team activity, entitled: "Physical parameters of the LISM through coordinated observations of the gravitational focussing cone at 1 AU".
• An introduction into the Local Interstellar Medium with many useful links may be found on the Interstellar Learning Page of the University of New Hampshire.
• Pictorial view of the Local Bubble and interstellar clouds surrounding the solar system and close-up of the "Local Fluff" (very local interstellar medium) around the sun.
• Animated view of the heliosphere surrounded by the neighboring star constellations from the "solar journeys" project.

Related ISSI Team Sites

• INTAS Team "The Heliosphere in the Local interstellar Medium"
• INTAS Team "Physics of the heliosheath plasma flow and structure of the termination shock"
• ISSI Team "Physics of the Heliotail"

Publications and Presentations

A list of publications and presentations will be updated periodically.