Heliospheric current sheet

[2][3][4] The shape of the current sheet results from the influence of the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the plasma in the interplanetary medium.

The spiral nature of the heliospheric magnetic field was noted earlier by Hannes Alfvén,[7] based on the structure of comet tails.

Parker's spiral magnetic field was divided in two by a current sheet,[8] a mathematical model first developed in the early 1970s by Schatten.

[14] The heliospheric current sheet rotates along with the Sun with a period of about 25 days, during which time the peaks and troughs of the skirt pass through the Earth's magnetosphere, interacting with it.

The heliospheric current sheet results in higher order multipole components so that the actual magnetic field at the Earth due to the Sun is 100 times greater.

The heliospheric current sheet was discovered by John M. Wilcox and Norman F. Ness, who published their finding in 1965.