The Genesis of Humanity’s Galactic Adventure aka Exploring the Very Local Interstellar Medium in situ and (sort of) Remotely

by Dr Gary Zank (Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), University of Alabama Huntsville)

Thursday 6 Nov 2025, 11:30 → 12:30 Europe/Rome

Sala Jappelli (Osservatorio astronomico di Padova)

Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause to enter interstellar space on August 25, 2012, and six years later, Voyager 2 entered the very local interstellar medium (VLISM) on November 5, 2018. With these historic events, humankind became an interstellar-faring civilization, completing an extraordinary 67-odd years that began with the launch of Sputnik and Explorer satellites in October 1957 and January 1958 respectively. For the first time, we have the opportunity to explore the interstellar medium in situ. We will describe some of the discoveries made by the Voyager Interstellar and the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) missions, focusing especially on the rather complex interaction of the heliosphere and the LISM, which in part creates a new form of interstellar medium that is now called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM). We will take a gentle and perhaps slightly irreverent walk through the physics of the distant heliosphere and VLISM and what we might expect from new missions, such as the New Horizons spacecraft that is rapidly approaching the first of the large-scale boundaries, the heliospheric termination shock, and now a new NASA mission, Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), launched in September, 2025. IMAP will make in situ measurements of the space environment at 1 astronomical unit (au) and remote measurements of energetic neutral atoms created in the boundaries and beyond of the heliosphere.

 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://unipd.zoom.us/j/82482883288?pwd=MVvmMWSGaiVrGMyAFOdyQG61OAcI7D.1

Meeting ID: 824 8288 3288
Passcode: 072472