Alfven and Juergens Circuits, a Reconciliation? 2.0

[upriver]

I found this image of the sun moving through the local chimney. I was looking for the filament connecting the sun to the whatever. If there was a filament connecting from the solar heliosphere what would it connect to? The wall??
http://elpub.wdcb.ru/journals/ijga/gi04 ... 70-o04.gif

http://elpub.wdcb.ru/journals/ijga/gi04 ... #fig04hook

Perhaps you're confusing the Cosmic version of Intracloud Lightning with the Cosmic version of Clound-to-Ground lightning. On Earth, Intracloud lightning is by far actually the most common form of lighting. Not to be confused with cloud-to-ground lightning.

In this case,the LIC cloud column density towards the star Sirius led to the conclusion that the Sun has entered the LIC cloud within the last 2,000-8,000 years, and that the Sun is about ~0.1 pc from the surface in the downwind direction (Frisch, 1994) When the upper limits of the Ca II column density towards Aql (Vallergra et al., 1993) and the LIC Fe II column density towards Cen (Lallement et al., 1995) are included, then we are forced to conclude that the Sun is located in a filament of difuse interstellar gas with a total thickness <0.7 pc. This filament is illustrated in Figure 4. - LISM STRUCTURE-FRAGMENTED SUPERBUBBLE SHELL?

The text for reference you posted is telling you where they think filament is located. The filaments appear to be in the "wall" of The Loop I Superbubble in the first cartoon graphic of your link. There it lay via P. Firsch above - with a question mark - as to whether the filament that the Sun “APPEARS” to be “embedded” within is, or isn’t, a part of the Loop I Superbubble Shell:


Obviously, we can't see ourselves like the images assessed in "Characterizing interstellar filaments with Herschel in IC 5146" and nowhere therein is the question being asked "What does it connect to?" The cosmic version of Intracloud Lightning are electric discharges between Cosmic "clouds".

I had wondered if there was a typical size for the filaments based on density or some other parameter.
From the article:
"One merit of this scenario is that it provides an explanation for the typical ~0.1 pc width of the filaments as measured with Herschel (Sect. 4 and Fig. 7)"

"In this picture, the postshock thickness of the filaments effectively corresponds to the sonic scale λs at which the 3D turbulent velocity dispersion equals the sound speed (i.e., ℳ(λs) = 1), leading to λ ≈ λs ~ 0.05–0.15 pc according to recent determinations of the linewidth-size relationship in molecular clouds (e.g. Heyer et al. 2009; Federrath et al. 2010)."

So is the filament that the solar system is traveling in, above or below this size?

"the Sun is located in a filament of diffuse interstellar gas with a total thickness <0.7 pc"

So we are in a bigger filament. If it was dual then you could say that each filament was about 3pc with a 1pc space between them... I dont know what spacing is required for Roberts analysis...

Here is a 3D rendering of the Local Bubble..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Bub ... Bubble.png

Heres an oldy but a goody.

Rotating Elephant Trunks.
http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/20 ... 494-05.pdf

If the sun is traveling is a particular direction, for the scenario that Robert is talking about you would want the direction of travel to be axial along the filament. And you would also want a dual filament with a specific twist to
produce the 11(22) year solar cycle. I am thinking that also means that the filament pair has a specific spacing etc..
And probably that the solar cycle has changed many times.

So in trying to find that information out you have to rule out other scenarios. Like a filament going from the wall to the sun.
The position of stars in the local bubble. Not just in filaments. And does each of these have a filament that it travels through or that is connected to it?? What if the sun was traveling across a filament.... What would you expect the light curve to be as it crossed each boundary... Is that even a possibility in EU.

Galaxies embedded in walls have different characteristic than galaxies in bubbles or molecular clouds...
And so what if stars do as well. That luminosity and color depend on its position in the local bubble..

Its almost better to have a model that only depends on the density of the local plasma for its luminosity than to try to depend on the specific geometry of a dual filament. Kind of like a Langmuir Probe heliosphere..

[Solar]

So in trying to find that information out you have to rule out other scenarios. Like a filament going from the wall to the sun.
The position of stars in the local bubble. Not just in filaments. And does each of these have a filament that it travels through or that is connected to it?? What if the sun was traveling across a filament.... What would you expect the light curve to be as it crossed each boundary... Is that even a possibility in EU.

Galaxies embedded in walls have different characteristic than galaxies in bubbles or molecular clouds...
And so what if stars do as well. That luminosity and color depend on its position in the local bubble..

Its almost better to have a model that only depends on the density of the local plasma for its luminosity than to try to depend on the specific geometry of a dual filament. Kind of like a Langmuir Probe heliosphere..

Gosh. I haven’t seen that Elephant’s Trunk paper in quite a while. Thanks!Trade ya this one:

"The “Nessie” Nebula: Cluster Formation in a Filamentary Infrared Dark Cloud" - James M. Jackson, Susanna C. Finn et al

Yes. Things can get pretty complicated rather quickly as one nuance would lead to others. For example: I had the same question: If galaxies differ due to location within a void as opposed to those within void walls would the same apply to stars? On and on it goes.

Some of your points in this thread are interesting as relates the ‘power’ concerns you’ve expressed. Earlier in this thread you referenced Birkeland’s experiments; specifically the following image and the caption “hot spots on a rough cathode surface”:

Birkeland Terella

The ‘glittering’ hot spots of image (a) on the left of the Birkeland experiment impress me as a laboratory example corresponding to the ‘glittering’ hot spots revealed in any of several images that facilitate a peak through the Sun’s corona such as:

“NASA’s SDO Peers Into Huge Coronal Hole”

“NASA’s SDO Spies an Elongated Coronal Hole”

SOHO-EIT 1996 May 8

The coronal ‘shell’ simply obscures these smaller relatively fleeting discharge pathways. This particular activity of the Sun isn’t referred to in terms of ‘cathode spots’. Instead, they are called “Coronal Jets”.

The earlier paper by P. Firsch exemplifies knowing to look along the length of what the Nessie paper refers to as "Filamentary Infrared Dark Clouds" and/or literally following a trail of dust grains. This is related to the cosmic version of Intracloud lightning in my mind because the bolts themselves, along the length of which quite a lot of stars tend to exist, likewise tend to be obscured.

I like this reference you cite (here). I lost track of it and was going to mention it also. The reason is because yes - the clouds have a model. Yet, it is also important to note those regions where they meet (or "skim" each other) as ares where star formation can occur. Now add in an expanding "shell" from ScoCen and/or Loop I Superbubble, "Chimney" etc and things can get real complicated real fast. P. Firsch, Redfield, Lynsky(sp?) et al are the only qualified sources (and their references) that I know of trying to sort through the cosmic pile up.

So.... there does appear to be a filament within which the Sun may be "embedded". I don't know if it's the one you've been searching for.

[Robertus Maximus]

upriver and Solar,

I have looked through a number of links you have both provided. It appears that the mainstream have already done extensive investigations concerning the LISM/ LISMF and their connection to the heliosphere.

See: Triangulation of the Interstellar Magnetic Field’

http://dspace.mit.edu/openaccess-dissem ... 1.1/100896

‘We have examined the direction of the interstellar magnetic from three distinct observational vantage points: (1) inflowing interstellar H is more strongly affected by secondary interactions in the outer heliosheath than interstellar He. Interstellar H is therefore deflected relative to He and the deflection vector should lie within a plane (the B–V plane) that contains the interstellar magnetic field vector (Lallement et al. 2005); (2) the center of the IBEX ribbon, which is believed to be oriented parallel to the interstellar magnetic field; and (3) the observations by Voyager 1 of the steady undraping of the magnetic field after it crossed the heliopause late in 2012. We have used these independent observations to triangulate a unique orientation for the undisturbed interstellar magnetic field.

‘The triangulated field direction appears very consistent with the direction at the center of the IBEX ribbon, and is particularly close to the ribbon center at 0.7–2.7 keV. There are large inherent uncertainties. For example, the extrapolation of the field direction from Voyager 1 observations is linear. However, Voyager 1 has remained within the outer heliosheath over a relatively short observational period. It is therefore unclear whether a linear extrapolation will continue to hold.

‘The linear projection suggests that Voyager 1 could observe a field direction at the IBEX ribbon center by 2025 when the spacecraft is at 165 AU from the Sun. These predictions warrant careful further analysis of Voyager 1 data in coming years. In addition, when Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause, we may be able to add a fourth observational vantage point from which to compare projections of the interstellar field direction.

‘Thus, our triangulation of the interstellar magnetic field provides new support indicating both that Voyager 1 is currently in the outer heliosheath beyond the heliopause and that the interstellar magnetic field direction is at the center of the IBEX ribbon. This analysis strongly supports the conclusion of Burlaga & Ness (2014) that the steady changes in magnetic field orientation observed by Voyager 1 during quiet periods after it crossed the heliopause were in fact indications of the undraping of the interstellar magnetic field, as modeled by Zirnstein et al. (2015). The IBEX ribbon center as the direction of the LISMF is consistent with the interstellar field direction obtained from locally, polarized starlight (Frisch et al. 2015).

‘This implies that the ordering of the interstellar field persists over much larger spatial scales than that of the heliosphere. Further, these results strengthen the conclusion that the anisotropies in TeV cosmic rays are organized by this field direction over many parsecs in the local galactic environment (Schwadron et al. 2014).’

And: Charting the Interstellar Magnetic Field causing the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) Ribbon of Energetic Neutral Atoms

http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.04679

‘4.2. Identifying a filamentary-shaped magnetic structure'

‘As the sky coverage of the underlying polarization dataset improves, it becomes more likely that inhomogeneities in the direction of the local ISMF will be sampled. Since the purpose of this study is to connect the ISMF that shapes the heliosphere with the local interstellar field, the analysis of the best-fitting ISMF to the polarization data needs to take into account the possibility there are multiple local ordered components of the magnetic field, so that polarizations clearly associated with a magnetic field that is different from the one that shapes the heliosphere can be omitted from the fits. In this section we identify a clearly identifiable secondary magnetic structure. The properties of this filament suggest that it is related to interstellar dust grains deflected around the heliosphere (Frisch et al. 2015a). In this section we justify the selection of these polarizations as belonging to a separate magnetic structure, and in the following section the magnetic field direction in the local ISM is evaluated for a data set that omits data that trace the polarization filament.’

celeste, jacmac, Solar, upriver

Are we looking for a link that mainstream research has already made in which the IBEX Ribbon plays a prominent role?

[celeste]

Robert, For sure Priscilla Frisch is the one to read. See http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fr ... /0/all/0/1
for a list. No one has done a better job putting all the observations together. She's mapping the flow of our nearest "gas clouds", the motion of the sun through the clouds, the ionization gradients, the magnetic field directions,and so on.

Having said that, there are still a few mainstream ideas are wrong. For example, they see the slow rotation of magnetic field direction that Voyager sees, as "undraping". They think the magnetic field will eventually make a slight twist until it lines up with the large scale background field. What we should predict, based on Don Scott's model, is that Voyager will see a constantly spiraling magnetic field direction, as it works it way radially outward from our solar system's filament. The local magnetic field never has to align with the larger scale background field. I'll predict that in the future, Voyager will see a magnetic field direction which overshoots their predicted direction. I would also like to point out, that if we see this continuously rotating magnetic field direction, we will know the direction of current flow. That would be helpful

[upriver]

The Local Interstellar Medium.
N. Bochkarev
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi- ... etype=.pdf

[Robertus Maximus]

Having said that, there are still a few mainstream ideas are wrong. For example, they see the slow rotation of magnetic field direction that Voyager sees, as "undraping". They think the magnetic field will eventually make a slight twist until it lines up with the large scale background field. What we should predict, based on Don Scott's model, is that Voyager will see a constantly spiraling magnetic field direction, as it works it way radially outward from our solar system's filament. The local magnetic field never has to align with the larger scale background field. I'll predict that in the future, Voyager will see a magnetic field direction which overshoots their predicted direction.

Agreed, from an electrical/ plasma point of view we have to treat, with caution, terms such as “undraping”, “bubbles”, “winds” etc. Hopefully either one or both of the Voyager spacecraft will survive long enough to confirm your prediction and Don Scott’s model!

I would also like to point out, that if we see this continuously rotating magnetic field direction, we will know the direction of current flow. That would be helpful

I’m depending on it!

[Robertus Maximus]

The Local Interstellar Medium.
N. Bochkarev
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi- ... etype=.pdf

I've been looking for that, thanks.

[seasmith]

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi- ... etype=.pdf

I've been looking for that, thanks. -RM

Why that pile of assumptions
??

[Solar]

Are we looking for a link that mainstream research has already made in which the IBEX Ribbon plays a prominent role?

Monitoring the potential for which the IBEX Ribbon might reveal established celestial plasma electrodynamics would be more like it. To that end, and despite all of the wonderful efforts, sometimes simplification is best.

ENA images have also been produced for planets such as the Earth itself, and Saturn. At this point - concerning the IBEX Ribbon there are several “observations, interpretations, and theories”[1]

However, ENA imaging of Space Plasmas has an established history of being associated to “charge exchange”. Here is a really nice doc about that:

The emerging concept of the heliosphere [184] was extended in 1963 by the suggestion that about half of the solar wind protons would reenter the solar cavity in the form of hydrogen ENAs (with 3/4 of the initial solar wind velocity) as a result of processes at and beyond the solar wind termination region [185] – Energetic Neutral Atom Imaging (ENA Imaging) of Space Plasmas

If you download the paper format from the link at the top the [185] reference is cited as T.N. L. Patterson et al,, Planet. Space Sci 11, 767 (1963)

As with the aforementioned planets via which similar ENA features have already been observed, and owing to a lack of plasma scaling as a reference point, my take on the ribbon feature is offered as a question: Relative to the Solar System – might not Saturn and its moons electrodynamically ‘act’ as though a solar system in miniature? In other words: Does the IBEX Ribbon reveal the solar system’s stellar version of a “ring current”?

[celeste]

As with the aforementioned planets via which similar ENA features have already been observed, and owing to a lack of plasma scaling as a reference point, my take on the ribbon feature is offered as a question: Relative to the Solar System – might not Saturn and its moons electrodynamically ‘act’ as though a solar system in miniature? In other words: Does the IBEX Ribbon reveal the solar system’s stellar version of a “ring current”?

Perhaps we do have a scaling reference after all? https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/668/
"This "ring" is much farther from Saturn (roughly five times farther) then Saturn's famous icy rings"
Now look at the distance estimates for the Kuiper belt here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt and the distance estimates for the ibex ribbon here http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.38 ... 2/119/meta

Saturn's ring distance /ring current distance is same order of magnitude as Kuiper belt distance/ibex ribbon distance? Solar, once again I think you've got it!

[Robertus Maximus]

Are we looking for a link that mainstream research has already made in which the IBEX Ribbon plays a prominent role?

Monitoring the potential for which the IBEX Ribbon might reveal established celestial plasma electrodynamics would be more like it. To that end, and despite all of the wonderful efforts, sometimes simplification is best.

ENA images have also been produced for planets such as the Earth itself, and Saturn. At this point - concerning the IBEX Ribbon there are several “observations, interpretations, and theories”[1]

However, ENA imaging of Space Plasmas has an established history of being associated to “charge exchange”. Here is a really nice doc about that:

The emerging concept of the heliosphere [184] was extended in 1963 by the suggestion that about half of the solar wind protons would reenter the solar cavity in the form of hydrogen ENAs (with 3/4 of the initial solar wind velocity) as a result of processes at and beyond the solar wind termination region [185] – Energetic Neutral Atom Imaging (ENA Imaging) of Space Plasmas

If you download the paper format from the link at the top the [185] reference is cited as T.N. L. Patterson et al,, Planet. Space Sci 11, 767 (1963)

As with the aforementioned planets via which similar ENA features have already been observed, and owing to a lack of plasma scaling as a reference point, my take on the ribbon feature is offered as a question: Relative to the Solar System – might not Saturn and its moons electrodynamically ‘act’ as though a solar system in miniature? In other words: Does the IBEX Ribbon reveal the solar system’s stellar version of a “ring current”?

If we go back to page 1 of this thread I originally wrote:

‘Cassini is a NASA/ ESA Saturn orbiting spacecraft that has been observing not only Saturn and its moons but the edge of the heliosphere since 2004.

‘The Interstellar Boundary Explorer or IBEX is a NASA Earth orbiting spacecraft that has been exploring the edge of the heliosphere since 2008.

‘Both spacecraft have made interesting observations of this boundary region, pertinent to my proposal, some of the major discoveries according to the IBEX Principle Investigator, Dave McComas include: the discovery of an Enhanced/ Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Ribbon and its connection to the interstellar magnetic field, the discovery of rapid (~6 month) time variations in the heliosphere’s interstellar interaction and connection to decreasing solar wind output, the discovery that the very local interstellar medium is rotating ahead of the heliosphere (19). Furthermore, according to researchers ‘the Ribbon shows the most complicated time variations, with a levelling off in the southern hemisphere and continued decline in the northern one; these may be consistent with the Ribbon source being significantly farther away in the north than in the south.’ Perhaps this is due to the helical nature of the local Birkeland current.

‘IBEX also discovered that the structure of the FSW and SSW extend to the edge of the heliosphere (20) and recorded changes over a five year period of what was called the ‘IBEX Ribbon’ for part of solar cycle 24 (21). I propose that these changes at the edge of the heliosphere are directly related to the sunspot and Hale solar magnetic cycles.

‘The 2D diagram above shows the approximate orientation of the Sun, Cassini Belt and IBEX Ribbon in relation to the Galactic equator.

‘From this diagram we can see that the Cassini Belt is orientated normal to the galactic equator- the ENA detected in this region are a direct result of the interaction of the FSW with the LISM organised by the galactic Local Interstellar Magnetic Field (LISMF). Observations by Cassini reveal interesting regional changes in the intensity of ENA since 2004 and can be viewed in this document: http://www.helas.gr/conf/2015/talks/S_1/dialynas.pdf

‘During the descending phase of solar cycle (SC) 23 a concentration of ENA is found in the region called the ‘tail’ by researchers. The region of higher intensity gradually spreads over the high ecliptic latitudes eventually encompassing the whole belt by 2005- the early stage of Solar Minimum. This persists until 2009.

‘Following a spike in ENA intensity in the ‘nose’ in 2010 the region of higher intensity gradually spreads across the lower ecliptic latitudes back towards the ‘tail’ this coincides with the ascending phase of SC 24.

‘The onset of Solar Maximum again occurs with the region of high ENA recorded in the ‘tail’.

‘Therefore, ENA concentrations in the Cassini Belt in the ‘tail’ and ‘nose’ correlate with the descending and ascending phases of alternate Solar Maxima respectively, whilst high ENA concentrations globally distributed across the Cassini Belt correlate with Solar Minimum.

‘I suggest that this occurs because- as IBEX researchers have pointed out, the IBEX Ribbon has a direct connection to the galactic LISMF- the IBEX Ribbon either is or is influenced by the local Birkeland current. The heliosphere is directly influenced by this primary or secondary current which takes approximately 22 years to cycle past the heliosphere. Twice during this cycle the current will cross the intersection of the galactic equator and ecliptic equator, this corresponds to Solar Maximum. When the current is at high galactic latitudes then this corresponds to Solar Minimum. The global heliospheric magnetic field N-S or S-N alignment then becomes dependent on whether the main current is at high northerly or southerly galactic latitudes.’

Now if we look at page at pages 3 and 12 of the document in the link provided in the main body of text: ‘On the Origin of the 5-55 keV Heliosheath ENAs using Cassini/INCA measurements’, what do we see? ENA concentrations in the Cassini Belt appear to rotate over the course of the sunspot cycle but just like Saturn’s ring current the pattern ‘is doughnut shaped but in some instances it appears like someone took a bite out of it.’ (https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/668/).

The high energy Cassini Belt straddles the galactic equator with an estimated distance of 90- 140 AU, this paper describes the relationship between the IBEX Ribbon and Cassini Belt: http://www.issibern.ch/teams/Supratherm ... ui_AIP.pdf

If the IBEX Ribbon is the link, as researchers assume, to the LISMF then would that not make the Cassini Belt the solar system’s version of a ring current- a half eaten doughnut rotating through the solar cycle consisting of trapped particles originating in the FSW? Unlike Earth and Saturn if the Cassini Belt is a ring current then it is not aligned with the Sun’s equator instead it is aligned with the galactic equator. Perhaps as I indicated originally this was due to the distances involved?

The planets are certainly good analogues when modelling the Sun and heliosphere- and you have highlighted Saturn and its ring current, Uranus is another example with its axial tilt and offset magnetic field plus the Uranian atmosphere shows signs of what we might call maximum and minimum storm activity. celeste has pointed out the scalability of the plasma phenomena concerned- maybe the answers to how the Sun is powered lie closer to home?

Robert

[upriver]

If the IBEX Ribbon is the link, as researchers assume, to the LISMF then would that not make the Cassini Belt the solar system’s version of a ring current- a half eaten doughnut rotating through the solar cycle consisting of trapped particles originating in the FSW? Unlike Earth and Saturn if the Cassini Belt is a ring current then it is not aligned with the Sun’s equator instead it is aligned with the galactic equator. Perhaps as I indicated originally this was due to the distances involved?

The planets are certainly good analogues when modelling the Sun and heliosphere- and you have highlighted Saturn and its ring current, Uranus is another example with its axial tilt and offset magnetic field plus the Uranian atmosphere shows signs of what we might call maximum and minimum storm activity. celeste has pointed out the scalability of the plasma phenomena concerned- maybe the answers to how the Sun is powered lie closer to home?

Robert

Yep. I was looking around and I found this graphic. What do you suppose this plume in front is?
http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Com ... id-4x2.jpg

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22186054/ns/t ... 9tQ-fkrLRZ

We know that the solar wind moves mostly outward from the sun... The plume may be like a "vent" for the solar wind. A ground terminal...

The shape of the 2 rings or belts around our solar system might indicate two different origins.
One originates from the solar system.
And one originates from the motion of the heliosphere through the ISMF.
http://www.issibern.ch/teams/Supratherm ... ui_AIP.pdf

An IBEX graphic showing the magnetic field..
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files ... ing2_0.jpg

I compared the 2 illustrations and they are off from each other I think. I have a tendency to believe the one in the paper but it would be nice to know. I will try to check..

Or what if its the current flow from one ring to another that powers the sun?? Thats what that vent does??
And its the rotational interplay between the rings that causes the solar cycle. The rotation ratio??
It seems as though it would be a much more stable mechanism for producing cycles and be able to respond to an increase in plasma density without disturbing the belt like part of the system if the solar system passed through a cloud.. Similar to what happens in the Van Allen belts during a substorm...

Maybe the belts act like a capacitive inductive element of the system..

brant

[seasmith]

Maybe the belts act like a capacitive inductive element of the system..

brant

Yes, E Dollard has several expositions on that space function in the material gathered together at his web site:
http://ericpdollard.com
But then so do the planets themselves act as inductive/capacitive elements,
in the nested systems.

[Solar]

‘I suggest that this occurs because- as IBEX researchers have pointed out, the IBEX Ribbon has a direct connection to the galactic LISMF- the IBEX Ribbon either is or is influenced by the local Birkeland current. The heliosphere is directly influenced by this primary or secondary current which takes approximately 22 years to cycle past the heliosphere. Twice during this cycle the current will cross the intersection of the galactic equator and ecliptic equator, this corresponds to Solar Maximum. When the current is at high galactic latitudes then this corresponds to Solar Minimum. The global heliospheric magnetic field N-S or S-N alignment then becomes dependent on whether the main current is at high northerly or southerly galactic latitudes.’

Now if we look at page at pages 3 and 12 of the document in the link provided in the main body of text: ‘On the Origin of the 5-55 keV Heliosheath ENAs using Cassini/INCA measurements’, what do we see? ENA concentrations in the Cassini Belt appear to rotate over the course of the sunspot cycle but just like Saturn’s ring current the pattern ‘is doughnut shaped but in some instances it appears like someone took a bite out of it.’ (https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/668/).

The high energy Cassini Belt straddles the galactic equator with an estimated distance of 90- 140 AU, this paper describes the relationship between the IBEX Ribbon and Cassini Belt: http://www.issibern.ch/teams/Supratherm ... ui_AIP.pdf

If the IBEX Ribbon is the link, as researchers assume, to the LISMF then would that not make the Cassini Belt the solar system’s version of a ring current- a half eaten doughnut rotating through the solar cycle consisting of trapped particles originating in the FSW? Unlike Earth and Saturn if the Cassini Belt is a ring current then it is not aligned with the Sun’s equator instead it is aligned with the galactic equator. Perhaps as I indicated originally this was due to the distances involved?

The planets are certainly good analogues when modelling the Sun and heliosphere- and you have highlighted Saturn and its ring current, Uranus is another example with its axial tilt and offset magnetic field plus the Uranian atmosphere shows signs of what we might call maximum and minimum storm activity. celeste has pointed out the scalability of the plasma phenomena concerned- maybe the answers to how the Sun is powered lie closer to home?

Robert

Those are good points Robert. Maybe I need a rethink.

Sure: There are filaments and sub-filaments. Ribbon intensities could be the signature of the heliosphere 'cutting' through some filaments at some angle as the Sun travels. This would generate currents. Or, perhaps the motion of intensities might be the sign of the Sun 'skimming' the surface of any number of the clouds and cloudlets that compose filaments. The rationale would be that ENA production is a secondary effect of the activity of electrons (charge exchange). As such, perhaps what is being observed are not two distinct things (Ribbon & Belt) but two different energetic features of one dynamic occurring within the relative 'thickness' of the Heliosheath region along the line of sight:

Whether this is viewed as the evolution of one structure from the ribbon shape into the belt shape as a function of energy or as two separate structure that overlap in energy (and could in fact originate at different radial distances along the LOS) remains a matter for further inquiry.

(...)

In terms of the brighter features, the belt roughly overlaps the ribbon in the “nose” hemisphere, but the belt is clearly present in the “tail” hemisphere where the ribbon is absent.” – A THREE-COORDINATE SYSTEM (ECLIPTIC, GALACTIC, ISMF) SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF HELIOSPHERIC ENA EMISSIONS USING CASSINI/INCA MEASUREMENTS - K. Dialynas et al

The paper goes on and briefly mentions that there might be a bimodal relationship at hand like the FSW and the SSW. I see what you mean by the *appearance* of a ‘rotation’ of intensities from the tail (2003) to the nose (2011) as it relates the analogous Saturn ring current ‘donut’–like configuration (pg 12). Like that paper, the majority of the literature is isolating the feature to the interactions of the Heliosheath where charged species originating from Sun slow down and interactions with the interstellar medium (H, He) begin to intensify via charge exchange. However, the term 'charge exchange' hides the dynamics of Ionization, XRays and such that would need to be associated to that electrical activity.

A Ribbon and a Belt of ENA's...aligned with the galactic equator? In the same way that you're seeing the *appearance* of 'rotation' in the one paper, I'm seeing these patterns in the ENA emissions as the 'smoke' of a fire. The fire would be Ionization, X-Rays, maybe even modulated Cosmic Rays in the Heliosheath region, collision activities, plasma oscillations etc. Its difficult to consider the 'curling' dynamic officially portrayed in this press release...

Mysterious 'ribbon' of energy and particles that wrap around solar system's heliosphere isolated

... without those sorts of energy exchanges. The equatorial ring currents associated to planets doesn't seem to suit my idea based on alignment. However, in principle, an equatorial ring current associated to the heliosphere (perhaps inside the Heliosheath) aligned to the interstellar or galactic magnetic field, seems plausible (the Belt). ENA's themselves are not subject to magnetic fields (they go straight?) and as such would not haphazardly constrain themselves to a Belt and/or Ribbon configuration. I'm more interested in things like this:

This region is called the heliosheath. In particular the nose region of the heliosheath. The solar wind density increases and the total velocity, which now includes a large thermal component, increases too.

Interstellar neutral hydrogen can flow into the heliosphere, but it interacts with plasma weakly at the heliopause. This creates an abundance of hydrogen in the region between the heliopause and the outer bow shock called the hydrogen wall. Some of the higher hydrogen densities, however, can be noticed within the heliopause where a relatively high density solar wind exist. We expect an enhanced xray production in the i region. - XRay Emission from Charge Exchange in the Heliosphere - Robertson et al

So that is my rationale on that i.e., 'Whats going on behind the energetic 'structures' (the patterns) within the various sheaths of these Astrospheres. The Astrospheres are loading up their ionizing fronts as they move through the medium 'cutting' through the magnetic fields to which they are aligned at some angle. A Belt and a Ribbon might take the form of a ring current; somewhere. Especially the Belt. Not a "draping" of the magnetic field across a near spherical surface. The idea is a leap to be sure; but I'll take it.

Upriver: One of the images you’ve referenced appears to be from the work of M. Opher:

Global Asymmetry of the Heliosphere – M. Opher et al

Effects of a Local Interstellar Magnetic Field on Voyager 1 and 2 Observations – M. Opher, E. C. Stone et al

Solar System Is "Bullet Shaped"

Another question to those interested: Opher et al interprets the northern hemisphere of the heliosphere to be a bit forward of the southern hemisphere. The heliosphere is shown with basically a slight 'overhang' if you will. The nose of the Heliosphere seems to only indicate direction in these data based portrayals . Is it possible that as the Heliosphere, and its ionizing front, progresses in a direction that the more than likely malleable 'indentation' assessed in Opher's work might be the location that induces the 'curling' observed as the Ribbon?

In other words: One of the outside walls of my house has an overhang. When the wind blows straight on the face of that wall - under the overhang - it gets deflected left *AND* right under the overhang. This probably produces Kelvin–Helmholtz instability vortices. The IBEX Ribbon has been observed to have "fine structure" components; "knots". In relation to the asymmetry of the nose portrayed in the above works I wonder if that is what causes that.

Don't be scared to be wrong folks. This is fun stuff to think about after all.

[upriver]

I wonder if tracking x-rays will tell us more about the local filaments??

"The first prevailing hypothesis was that the Local Hot Bubble – a huge peanut-shaped bubble of hot ionised gas about 300 light- years long, inside which our Solar System exists – was responsible.

"We think that around 10 million years ago, a supernova exploded and ionised the gas of the Local Hot Bubble," says Galeazzi. "But one supernova wouldn't be enough to create such a large cavity and reach these temperatures – so it was probably two or three supernova over time, one inside the other."

More recently, scientists have discovered that diffuse X-rays could also be produced inside the Solar System, which gave rise to the hypothesis that solar wind – specifically something called solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) – was creating them.

When solar wind interacts with pockets of neutral gas in space, it can pick up electrons from the neutral particles. But once the electrons settle back into a stable state, they lose energy, in the form of X-ray emissions.

Thanks to the DXL mission, we now know that both of these phenomena are responsible for producing the diffuse soft X-ray background in our Solar System. That's a win in itself, especially since it tells us more about the nature of the Local Hot Bubble, which scientists still have little understanding of.

"Identifying the X-ray contribution of the Local Hot Bubble is important for understanding the structure surrounding our Solar System," says Uprety. "It helps us build better models of the interstellar material in our solar neighbourhood."

But as for those unknown high-energy X-rays? Nobody knows for sure where they come from.

The researchers say solar wind generates less than a quarter of X-ray emissions at higher energy levels, and it doesn't look like the Local Hot Bubble is responsible either.

"The temperature of the Local Hot Bubble is not high enough to produce X-rays in this energy range," says Uprety. "So we're left with an open question on the source of these X-rays."

http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-just-d ... mitstart=1