Implications of Energetic Neutral Atoms observed with IBEX-Lo for the pressure balance in the heliosphere
- 1Space Research and Planetary Science, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (andre.galli@unibe.ch)
- 2University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA
- 3Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA
- 4University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA
- 5Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- 6Center of Space Research and Technology, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 7Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) from the heliosphere are a unique means to remotely image the boundary regions of our heliosphere. NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has been very successful in measuring these ENAs since 2008 at energies from tens of eV to 6 keV.
The ENA low energy range from tens of eV to solar wind energy (roughly 1 keV) has been sampled throughout an entire solar cycle with the IBEX-Lo ENA imager. This enables us to study the physical implications for the structure of the heliosphere and for the parent proton populations in the heliosheath and other plasma regions that give rise to the observed ENAs. Here, we will discuss in particular the implications of the measured ENA intensities for the plasma pressure balance at the heliospheric boundary.
How to cite: Galli, A., Wurz, P., Schwadron, N. S., Möbius, E., Fuselier, S. A., Sokół, J. M., Bzowski, M., Swaczyna, P., Dialynas, K., and McComas, D. J.: Implications of Energetic Neutral Atoms observed with IBEX-Lo for the pressure balance in the heliosphere, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-5343, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-5343, 2024.
