New interpretations of extraterrestrial Lyman-alpha observations.The solar Lyman-alpha radiation pressure affects the orbits and the velocities of the interstellar particles entering the solar system. This leads to enhanced particle losses in the heliosphere, since particles spend a longer time crossing it. This causes a stronger decrease of the density with decreasing distances from the sun than had been calculated without accounting for the radiation pressure. Furthermore, the emission pattern of the solar Lyman-alpha radiation is anisotropic and rotates with the sun in a 27-day period. This causes a temporal change in the location of the intensity extrema. At the same time it produces hydrogen density anisotropies with extrema deviating in their directions from those which had been calculated without consideration of the radiation pressure.
Document ID
19730027521
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Blum, P. W. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Md., United States)