Speaker
Description
The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have traversed the heliosphere and entered the local interstellar medium (LISM). They are 169 AU and 142 AU from the Sun, 48 and 23 AU past the heliopause. These spacecraft have been taking data for over 48 years, more than four solar cycles. Thus they provide an excellent study of long-term time dependence of the solar wind. Solar cycle effects dominate the large-scale structure of the solar wind and continue to effect the LISM. Solar activity at and after solar maximum drive pressure pulses through the supersonic solar wind which are then observed in the shocked heliosheath plasma. These heliosheath pulsed then drive shock into the LISM generating plasma and radio waves which propagate deep into the heliosphere. Longer term pressure increases occur once per solar cycle and generate magnetic field and density increases far beyond the heliopause. This talk will discuss the present state of knowledge of the interaction of the heliosphere with the LISM and the effects of long-term changes in the solar in this interaction.