Speaker
Description
An international group of scientists is mapping the configuration of
the very local interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) utilizing
high-sensitivity measurements of starlight that becomes linearly
polarized while traversing a medium containing magnetically aligned
interstellar dust grains. High-sensitivity polarization data for over
500 nearby stars reveal that the local interstellar medium within 40
pc contains magnetic filaments, some extending over 90 degrees in
angle. We discuss the relation between these filaments and
kinetically-defined local interstellar clouds, and similarities
between a filament and the ISMF shaping the heliosphere as deduced
from the IBEX ribbon of energetic neutral hydrogen atoms. The
polarizations indicate that magnetic filaments, common throughout the
interstellar medium, also extend into the immediate solar environment.
These new polarization data have been collected at eight observatories
located in both the northern and southern hemispheres; half of the new
polarization data were collected with the DIPOL instruments.
