Published February 7, 2013 | Version Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Galactic cosmic rays in the distant heliosphere

  • 1. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 2. ROR icon New Mexico State University
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center

Contributors

Abstract

The small flotilla of spacecraft: Pioneers 10 and 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 (V1 and V2) that have traveled from 1 AU to the distant heliosphere continue the quest of Victor Hess to understand the nature of this radiation that comes to us from beyond the confines of our solar system. At this time V1 and V2 are traveling deeper into the heliosheath and approaching its outer boundary - the heliopause. In the heliosheath the intensity of 2.5 - 60 MeV GCR electrons has risen significantly above detector background levels and provides an important new diagnostic tool for exploring cosmic ray transport in this previously unexplored region of space. Over the past seven months the intensity of GCR ions and electrons at V1 have remained constant after a steady, 5.5 year exponential increase whose rate varied with particle species. Is this an indication that V1 is approaching the heliopause?

Additional Information

© 2013 American Institute of Physics. Published online 07 February 2013. Prof. Frank McDonald died not long after the meeting and was unable to write this paper himself. The Editor wrote this paper by transcribing it from the presentation made at the meeting. Any errors should be ascribed to the Editor and not to the authors of the paper.

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Eprint ID
66317
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20160420-130923910

Dates

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2016-04-20
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2021-11-10
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Caltech groups
Space Radiation Laboratory
Series Name
AIP Conference Proceedings
Series Volume or Issue Number
1516