HR: 0830h
AN: SH11C-1115    [PDF]
TI: The termination shock near 35 degrees latitude
AU: * Whang, Y C
EM: whang@cua.edu
AF: Catholic University of America, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Washington, DC 20064
AU: Burlaga, L F
EM: leonard.f.burlaga@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 692, Greenbelt, MD 20771
AU: Wang, Y
EM: ywang@yucca.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7672, Washington, DC 20375
AU: Sheeley, N R
EM: sheeley@spruce.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7672, Washington, DC 20375
AB: The paper calculates the solar cycle variation of the termination shock near 35 degrees latitude. The solution assumes that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock at 85.5 AU on 2002.6. At mid latitudes, the termination shock is an oblique shock; the shock location is unambiguously solar cycle dependent with amplitude greater than 50 AU. The maximum (minimum) distance occurs during the rising (declining) phase of the solar cycle. During the period of high-speed (low-speed) solar wind, the termination shock moves outward (inward) and the shock is weaker (stronger). The calculation provides the shock speed, the shock strength, the preshock and postshock solar wind speed, and the flow speed in the shock frame of reference. The shock parameters are distinctly different depending on whether the shock moves outward or inward. If Voyager 1 did cross the termination shock in 2002.6, it would likely cross the shock coming back to the solar wind near 98 AU in 2006 during the next outward motion of the termination shock, while in 2010 the spacecraft would cross the termination shock back into the heliosheath near 113 AU during the inward motion of the termination shock near the maximum of Cycle 24. If Voyager 1 did not cross the termination shock in mid-2002, it might still do so before 2005.
DE: 2124 Heliopause and solar wind termination
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting