Search Publications
Identification of Saturn's magnetospheric regions and associated plasma processes: Synopsis of Cassini observations during orbit insertion
Schippers, P.; André, N.; Gurnett, D. A. +29 more
Saturn's magnetosphere is currently studied from the microphysical to the global scale by the Cassini-Huygens mission. During the first half of 2004, in the approach phase, remote sensing observations of Saturn's magnetosphere gave access to its auroral, radio, UV, energetic neutral atom, and dust emissions. Then, on 1 July 2004, Cassini Saturn or…
Understanding coronal heating and solar wind acceleration: Case for in situ near-Sun measurements
Sittler, E. C.; McComas, D. J.; Bothmer, V. +17 more
The solar wind has been measured directly from 0.3 AU outward, and the Sun's atmosphere has been imaged from the photosphere out through the corona. These observations have significantly advanced our understanding of the influence of the Sun's varying magnetic field on the structure and dynamics of the corona and the solar wind. However, how the c…
A review of discontinuities and Alfvén waves in interplanetary space: Ulysses results
Tsurutani, Bruce T.; Ho, Christian M.
The Ulysses mission is the first to explore our heliosphere at all latitudes up to +/-80° and therefore is an ideal mission to study potential gradients in heliolatitude (and radial distance) of discontinuity occurrence rates and types. Directional discontinuities (DDs) are shown to be dependent on the type of solar wind streams that they are embe…
The three-dimensional solar wind at solar activity minimum
Neugebauer, M.
In early 1998 the Ulysses spacecraft made history by completing an orbit around the Sun inclined to the solar equator by 80°. It observed the properties of the high-latitude heliosphere at a time of low solar activity when the configuration of the solar magnetic field was relatively simple. The solar wind data acquired by Ulysses have placed firm …
Solar cycle variation in the heliosphere
Gazis, P. R.
Variations in interplanetary plasma and magnetic field parameters over the course of a solar cycle affect a broad range of physical phenomena, such as planetary magnetospheres, cosmic ray modulation, and the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium. For more than 3 decades a succession of spacecraft have provided in situ me…
Solar wind corotating interaction regions: The third dimension
Gosling, J. T.
A new dimension has recently been added to our understanding of solar wind structure - the dimension out of the solar equatorial plane. Measurements made by the Ulysses space probe at high heliographic latitudes and powerful new 3-dimensional numerical simulations have revealed that solar wind corotating interaction regions (CIRs) tend to be tilte…
Charting the heliosphere in three dimensions
Neugebauer, M.
Space physicists continue their exploration of the solar system's home in the galaxy—that bubble of space, called the heliosphere, carved out of the interstellar medium by the solar wind. Studies of the heliospheric plasma are driven by the search for answers to questions such as: What mechanisms are responsible for the acceleration of the solar w…