Europlanet Science Congress 2020
Virtual meeting
21 September – 9 October 2020
Europlanet Science Congress 2020
Virtual meeting
21 September – 9 October 2020
EPSC Abstracts
Vol. 14, EPSC2020-547, 2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-547
Europlanet Science Congress 2020
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Understanding our global heliosphere with UV observations: Unique opportunities on Interstellar Probe

Elena Provornikova1, Pontus Brandt1, Ed Roelof1, Olga Katushkina2, Igor Baliukin2, Majd Mayyasi3, Dimitra Koutroumpa4, and Kathleen Mandt1
Elena Provornikova et al.
  • 1Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
  • 2Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
  • 3Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
  • 4LATMOS, CNRS, France

Solar Lyman-a emission re-radiated from H atoms incoming to the heliosphere from interstellar medium is a powerful tool to probe globally plasma properties both at the heliosphere boundary and near the Sun. H Lyman-α line profiles reflect velocity distributions of low energy H atoms in the heliosphere which hold information about the plasma near the heliopause. H Lyman α intensities as observed at 1 AU serve as diagnostic of global properties of the solar wind. In this talk we will review what we have learned about the global heliospheric interaction from H Lyman-a observations from inside the heliosphere on SWAN/SOHO, Voyages/UVS and New Horizons/Alice missions. Outward trajectory of Interstellar Probe going through the outer heliosphere to the interstellar medium (ISM) up to 1000 AU enable unique science opportunities to explore global interaction between the solar wind and local ISM by observing for the first time Lyman-a emission from outside of the heliosphere. We will report a progress of UV working group in outlining primary science questions on the nature of the global heliosphere and Local Interstellar Cloud, planning observation strategy, measurement requirements and synergies with planetary UV observations for potential KBO fly-by.

How to cite: Provornikova, E., Brandt, P., Roelof, E., Katushkina, O., Baliukin, I., Mayyasi, M., Koutroumpa, D., and Mandt, K.: Understanding our global heliosphere with UV observations: Unique opportunities on Interstellar Probe, Europlanet Science Congress 2020, online, 21 September–9 Oct 2020, EPSC2020-547, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-547, 2020