Published May 11, 2007
| public
Journal Article
The orientation of the local interstellar magnetic field
- Creators
- Opher, M.
- Stone, E. C.
- Gombosi, T. I.
Abstract
The orientation of the local interstellar magnetic field introduces asymmetries in the heliosphere that affect the location of heliospheric radio emissions and the streaming direction of ions from the termination shock of the solar wind. We combined observations of radio emissions and energetic particle streaming with extensive three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic computer simulations of magnetic field draping over the heliopause to show that the plane of the local interstellar field is ∼60° to 90° from the galactic plane. This finding suggests that the field orientation in the Local Interstellar Cloud differs from that of a larger-scale interstellar magnetic field thought to parallel the galactic plane.
Additional Information
© 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 3 January 2007; accepted 27 March 2007. We thank the staff at NASA Ames Research Center for the use of the Columbia supercomputer.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 44678
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1139480
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140407-085322780
- Created
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2014-04-08Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Name
- Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 2007-07