The electromagnetic structure of interplanetary space

Abstract

A method to calculate the three-dimensional structure of the interplanetary magnetic field is presented. The integrations are based on magnetograph recordings of longitudinal magnetic fields in the solar photosphere. The program by Altschuler and Newkirk is used to calculate the radial component of the magnetic field on the source surface, situated at r = 2.6r. This determines the inner boundary conditions for the integration outwards of the interplanetary field equations by means of the method that is described. Computer-drawn plots of the interplanetary field lines out to the earth's orbit are presented for the periods around the total solar eclipses of November 12, 1966, and March 7, 1970. During the former period the interplanetary field exhibited a clean, dipole-type structure, while during the latter period the field was more complicated and had four sectors in the equatorial plane. A movie was presented, showing how the interplanetary field structure rotates as seen by a magnetometer in the sun's equatorial plane.