Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA.
Science. 2012 Jun 8;336(6086):1291-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1221054. Epub 2012 May 10.
As the Sun moves through the local interstellar medium, its supersonic, ionized solar wind carves out a cavity called the heliosphere. Recent observations from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft show that the relative motion of the Sun with respect to the interstellar medium is slower and in a somewhat different direction than previously thought. Here, we provide combined consensus values for this velocity vector and show that they have important implications for the global interstellar interaction. In particular, the velocity is almost certainly slower than the fast magnetosonic speed, with no bow shock forming ahead of the heliosphere, as was widely expected in the past.
当太阳穿过本地星际介质时，它的超音速、电离太阳风会在星际介质中开辟出一个名为日球层的空腔。星际边界探测器（IBEX）飞船的最新观测结果表明，太阳相对于星际介质的相对运动速度比之前认为的要慢，而且方向也略有不同。在这里，我们提供了这个速度矢量的综合共识值，并表明它们对日球层整体的星际相互作用有重要影响。特别是，速度几乎肯定比快磁声波速度慢，日球层前方没有形成弓形激波，这与过去的广泛预期相反。
