Freiburg 2008 – scientific programme
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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 4: The Sun and Heliosphere - Poster Session
EP 4.20: Poster
Monday, March 3, 2008, 17:30–19:00, Vorraum KGI-Aula
The Interstellar Heliopause Probe / Heliospheric Explorer: IHP/HEX — •Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber1, Bernd Heber1, Ralph McNutt2, Horst Fichtner3, Klaus Scherer3, Manfred Leipold4, and The IHP HEX Team5 — 1Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany — 2Applied Physics Laboratory, John Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA — 3Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany — 4Kayser-Threde GmbH, Wolfratshauser Str. 48, D-81379 München, Germany — 5spread across the world, Earth, Solar System
The Sun, driving a supersonic solar wind, cuts out of the local interstellar medium a giant plasma bubble, the heliosphere. Dedicated deep-space missions have greatly enhanced our understanding of our immediate neighborhood.
The next logical step is to leave the heliosphere and to thereby map out in unprecedented detail the structure of the outer heliosphere and its boundaries, the termination shock, the heliosheath, the heliopause, and, after leaving the heliosphere, to discover the true nature of the hydrogen wall, the bow shock, and the local interstellar medium beyond. This will greatly advance our understanding of the heliosphere that is the best-known example for astrospheres as found around other stars. Thus, IHP/HEX will allow us to discover, explore, and understand fundamental astrophysical processes in the largest accessible plasma laboratory, the heliosphere.