The Heliospheric Termination Shock

Observations of the heliospheric termination shock (2007) reveal that the shock is similar in many respects to the structure expected for quasi-perpendicular shocks. However, the dissipation mechanism is
fundamentally different and the thermal plasma downstream of the shock is unexpectedly cool. Nonetheless, the basic physics can be understood on the basis a theoretical model developed in 1996 by Zank et al. The observations and simple models will be discussed.

Gary Zank

UAHuntsville